Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs seeks damages from US broadcaster over documentary

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is suing a US broadcaster over a documentary that he says falsely accuses him of being a serial murderer who had sex with under-age girls as he awaits trial on various charges.

The lawsuit filed on Wednesday in New York state court says the documentary, Diddy: Making Of A Bad Boy, included statements that NBC Universal either knew were false or published with reckless disregard for the truth in order to defame the founder of Bad Boy Records.

“Indeed, the entire premise of the documentary assumes that Mr Combs has committed numerous heinous crimes, including serial murder, rape of minors, and sex trafficking of minors, and attempts to crudely psychologise him,” the complaint reads.

“It maliciously and baselessly jumps to the conclusion that Mr Combs is a ‘monster’ and ‘an embodiment of Lucifer’ with ‘a lot of similarities’ to Jeffrey Epstein.”

The documentary premiered last month on Peacock TV, the network’s streaming service.

“From his childhood to becoming a mogul, this raw look at Sean Combs’ journey through exclusive footage and candid interviews explores his rise, controversies and the man behind the music,” a description of the documentary on Peacock’s website reads.

Combs, who is seeking no less than 100 million dollars in damages, has been in Brooklyn federal prison since his September arrest on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.

Federal prosecutors say he used his wealth and influence to coerce female victims and male sex workers into drug-fuelled, days-long sexual performances known as “Freak Offs”.

They say Combs used blackmail and violence to intimidate and threaten his victims in a pattern of abuse that goes back to the early 2000s.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His trial is due to start in May.

Erica Wolff, a lawyer for Combs, said NBC and the other entities named in the suit “maliciously and recklessly broadcast outrageous lies” in order to “line their own pockets” by driving viewership to the documentary.

“In making and broadcasting these falsehoods, among others, defendants seek only to capitalise on the public’s appetite for scandal without any regard for the truth and at the expense of Mr Combs’s right to a fair trial,” she said in a statement. “Mr Combs brings this lawsuit to hold defendants accountable for the extraordinary damage their reckless statements have caused.”

Combs’ lawsuit says the documentary “falsely, recklessly, and maliciously” accuses him of murdering Kimberly Porter, Christopher Wallace and Dwight Arrington Myers, among other notable names.

Ms Porter, a model who had been Combs’ long-time girlfriend and the mother of some of his children, died in 2008 at the age of 47 from complications from pneumonia.

Wallace, the rapper known as The Notorious B.I.G, was killed in 1997 in a still-unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles at the age of 24.

Myers, the rapper known as “Heavy D”, died from a pulmonary embolism in 2011 at the age of 44.

“It shamelessly advances conspiracy theories that lack any foundation in reality, repeatedly insinuating that Mr Combs is a serial killer because it cannot be a ‘coincidence’ that multiple people in Mr Combs’s orbit have died,” the complaint reads.

Elsewhere, the complaint says the documentary delved into claims Combs had sex with under-age girls, citing as evidence a civil complaint that’s been “thoroughly discredited”.

Combs’ lawyers say the women referenced in that complaint have since confirmed they were adults at the time.