Early reviews are in for 50 Cent’s Netflix documentary “Sean Combs: The Reckoning,” which released on December 2, and so far they paint a different picture than the “shameful hit piece” that Diddy says it is. A representative for Combs responded to the four-part docuseries, executively produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and directed by Alexandra Stapleton, calling the piece as an attempt to “sensationalize every minute of Mr. Combs’s life, without regard for truth, in order to capitalize on a never-ending media frenzy.” However, several critics say they are surprised by the documentary’s balanced approach, though it still doesn’t paint Diddy in the best light given the many accusations against him. (Warning: Spoilers ahead!)
Netflix Diddy series is not exactly a “hatchet job,” says reviewer
Critic Carol Midgley of The Times called 50 Cent’s “Sean Combs: The Reckoning” as “well-crafted” and having “a persuasive gallery of interviewees, ranging from childhood friends to former employees.” The piece describes the series, which consists of four episodes that are each about an hour long, as a morality tale about how power corrupts and that Sean Combs became “increasingly controlling the more success and wealth he enjoyed.”
Given the longtime feud between Diddy and 50 Cent, the reviewer expected the documentary “to be a hatchet job” but instead found that Stapleton’s effort “is more layered than that.” The series includes several jurors that found Combs not guilty in his trial as well as a statement from one of his childhood friends who claims that Combs was beaten by his mother, who taught him to “fight dirty, always hitting harder than his opponent.”
Reviewer Stuart Heritage from The Guardian gave the documentary a solid four out of five stars and was impressed by how “thorough” it is in covering the many allegations against Diddy throughout his career. In fact, the critic says it “does such a thorough job of laying out and backing up so many horrific allegations that his way back to stardom is surely blocked for ever.” As such, the series isn’t “a pleasant watch” but “a grimly necessary one.”
The documentary covers numerous allegations of sexual assault from various women, including Joi Dickerson-Neal and Aubrey O’Day. The series doesn’t feature an interview with Cassie Ventura, though it uses the “CCTV footage of Combs punching, kicking and dragging Ventura through a hotel corridor” as a “centre of gravity.” Nor does it delve deeply into the mogul’s infamous “freak-off” parties and the many celebrities who attended them. Still, the critic believes that “the series does what is most needed right now.”
In response to the documentary, lawyers representing Sean Combs have sent a cease-and-desist letter to Netflix on Monday, December 1, to demand that it take down and not release the documentary, per CNN. A spokesperson for Sean Combs claims that “Netflix relied on stolen footage that was never authorized for release.” It says that the streamer knows that the Diddy “has been amassing footage since he was 19 to tell his own story” and that it is “fundamentally unfair, and illegal, for Netflix to misappropriate that work.”
The statement finds Netflix’s partnership with 50 Cent “equally staggering,” describing him as a “longtime adversary with a personal vendetta who has spent too much time slandering Mr. Combs.”
Stapleton has since responded to the claims that the series uses stolen footage. “We obtained the footage legally and have the necessary rights,” she said. “We moved heaven and earth to keep the filmmaker’s identity confidential… We also reached out to Sean Combs’ legal team for an interview and comment multiple times, but did not hear back.”
Arrested in September 2024, Combs is serving a 50-month sentence after being convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He is appealing his conviction and sentence.
