Dec. 2, 2025
The First 5 Minutes of ”Sean Combs: The Reckoning” Will Have You Hooked
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RSS Feed Despite a cease and desist order from Diddy’s legal team, Netflix has released its 4 part series on Sean Combs, produced by his long time rival Curtis Jackson, aka “50 Cent.” Amy and T.J. watched the first episode, and the moment it begins, its clear, we are seeing Diddy like never before, days before his arrest, trying to manage his attorneys and the bad press that he describes as like taking “8 nuclear bombs to the head.”
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Tuesday, December second, the day that finally the much talked about fifty cent produced Diddy documentary hit Netflix. Hurry up and watch it because it might be gone at any moment. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. I say it might be gone because did he wants it gone? They want this thing. They've been talking about it, but they sent a cease and desist to Netflix and said, don't put this up. Netflix ripped up that cease and desist.
00:00:30
Speaker 2: Apparently, yes, they didn't seem to be bothered at all by it, because as promised at midnight Tuesday morning, twelve oh one, it was available for all to see. Four parts. They're sixty minutes each, and we've gotten through the first one.
00:00:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I don't know what to say it. I don't know how seriously. I'm not of a legal mind or anything like that. I don't imagine if they didn't take it down. They can't be that fearful of it, or it's worth the risk, because everybody's talking about this soccer today. Everybody's been talking might for quite some time. And I guess the centerpiece of the point of them wanting to take it down, is that you all are using footage that you all don't have the right to use, that you actually even stole and robes. It is the most fascinating part of at least the first episode that we've seen.
00:01:18
Speaker 2: That's right. The entire series starts out with that footage, and so it starts out with a bang. Because you are hearing and watching Sean Comb's six days before he's arrested. You can see that he seems panicked, that he is very emotionally fraught, and he is speaking urgently and even maybe fiercely with his attorneys.
00:01:44
Speaker 1: Now, yeah, the attorney in particular his superstar attorney, Mark Agnafilo, that put on a show by all accounts and get this man from possible life in prison to I guess the three years or four is it fifty fifty months that he's ultimately going to do. But the documentary, it got so much attention. There have been a lot quite frankly, hell, TMZ has done a documentary. Everybody's done a documentary on Diddy. It seems there are others you can find on streaming services. But Rose it was because of fifty Cents involvement, and he has been trolling Didty Since the first bottle of baby oil got found before he was arrested, he's been sending out social media whatnot. These two have been adversaries kind of publicly in the rap game for a long time, but his involvement had people's attention really into.
00:02:32
Speaker 2: Correct because they question, and certainly we've now heard from Sean Combs and his lawyer's question the motive and not even question it, but directly accuse the motive here for this documentary that it is a smear campaign, a hit piece on Ditty, and that was the agenda from start to finish, according to Ditty's camp.
00:02:53
Speaker 1: On a side note here, we'll get back into this, but did you feel that initially the first episode one felt like a hit piece of it?
00:02:59
Speaker 2: Did not? Didn't to me either, It did not feel like a hit piece at all. In fact, look, you have followed Sean Combe's career from the beginning. I have not, and so I was learning things that you already were very familiar with. I actually was fascinated by it and felt like I was getting a deeper better understanding of what led to what we all saw in court, the spectacle that it was this past summer. I felt already just with the first episode that I have a better understanding of him.
00:03:32
Speaker 1: And I guess what they are saying. They have some new or never before heard or seen interviews people sharing, but a lot of it so far is a rehash of a lot of what we do know about his life and hearing from some people we're familiar with. But there are some new interviews. But this is the Reckoning. They called it Sean Combs. The Reckoning came out today, produced by fifty Cent, directed by this woman's got some great credentials, Alexandria Staple Doone. She is a documentary filmmaker who has done some significant work over the years. This is a four part series sixty minutes each, so it's very digestible. But that's why it's a big deal, because of fifteen, because of who else is in it robes the Diddy statement. Look, I think it's been a part from the very beginning of the trial, didn't he or I think got in trouble during the trial because I found out his kids he was directing his kids to do something on social media.
00:04:26
Speaker 2: Yes, for his birthday. He look and you see this a little bit in this footage that they have where he is very aware and this is brilliant on his part because he gets it if you lose your PR campaign, if you lose the battle for public opinion, you lose. And so he was very aware of this. So he was, according to people who were accusing him of staging, having his kids do things for him on behalf of him to make him look good or better in the public's eye along on social media.
00:04:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that makes sense, it does.
00:05:00
Speaker 2: This makes sense.
00:05:00
Speaker 1: I screamed out to you in the next room or something. I said. He's smart because he said something in the beginning in the back and forth with his lawyer about his lawyer seemed relieved. Almost, Hey, it's September. You haven't been indicted, right, and I'm watching all these news outlets and and and everything. Nobody seems to be talking about it. Diddy said, you're in the wrong place. It's nine billion people on Earth, seven billion dollar Instagram, and not just watching CNN. You're looking at the wrong audience and being concerned about us winning or losing a PR battle. I heard that, like, damn yeah, good point.
00:05:32
Speaker 2: And he was right. And he's flat out told Mark Agnefilo, we're losing, and he was angry and he wanted them. He said, look, I'm paying you all. You figure it out. I'm not going to sit here and tell you what to do. You all communicate better with one another, you get a better strategy, and then you tell me what we're gonna do.
00:05:50
Speaker 1: So this that video at the beginning, and it goes a full two minutes, and I'm not sure how much is going to be throughout the rest of the series, but that two minutes, you're hooked, You're you're in. We are talking about folks, that hotel where he was arrested. He this video shows him in that hotel days before that arrest, on the phone, making plans on a bike, rolling through the streets of New York City. It is incredible to see, yes, what was happening.
00:06:16
Speaker 2: And look, I didn't realize this about him. And this is a part of their issue because they said, hey, Shaw Combs has been basically chronicling his life, videoing his life since he was nineteen. He's always had a plan to have his own documentary about his own life, and so there were always cameras following him. So that was what was so interesting to me. At a one of his darkest moments, his most frightening moments, the days leading up to his arrest, where he didn't know what was going to happen. He had the wherewithal, the forethought to have someone documenting everything, the good, the bad, the ugly. I was taken by the fact that the videographer whoever was behind that camera swung around and from his hotel room window you could see police officers on rooftops seemingly monitoring gulps to make sure they knew where he was coming and going. I did not realize that he had that level of surveillance going on that.
00:07:13
Speaker 1: First two minutes, I'm blown away. There's a moment where he's standing outside where you actually it was the first time you see maybe some real concern and pain from him as he's talking about just a desperation, desperation like this is bullshit, is what he said. I gotta deal with this shit. And he actually seemed weary and worn and not ready for another fight, So that the first two minutes are absolutely fascinating with what's.
00:07:39
Speaker 2: Going on, Yes, and so we get to actually it's almost as if you were there you wondered what it was like for him. You actually are along with him. You feel like you're along the ride with him in those moments leading up to his arrest, and you feel his deep concern his I felt like he was almost panicked. Look, he's a cool cucumber, you can see that, but there was this bubbling panic that was there that you could see and feel and witness as you saw him go about his day and yet still stopping to take selfies with folks who were all trying to get their picture with him, and he was actually very accommodating.
00:08:13
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, you're still friendly, smiling and everything. I just wonder where those pictures ended up. You know, those guys had no idea.
00:08:21
Speaker 2: I thought about that. They couldn't imagine. They couldn't have known at the time that they were getting one of the last selfies ever of Diddy before he was ultimately arrested and put away for years and years and years.
00:08:33
Speaker 1: Last possible selfies for you careers that are possible with Diddy. They got them and had no idea they did. His rep put out a statement today talking about that particular footage. So that's the question. Robes. This is his personal videographer in that hotel room with him, how in the hell does Netflix get the rights to that video? Who owns it?
00:08:56
Speaker 2: Well, that's the question. The logical thing I mean in the place I jump to is that the videographer ended up saying this is mine, these are my this is my footage. I took it, I creatively recorded it, so it's my footage to then sell or give to whomever I want. But I don't know what the legality behind all of that is. Obviously, Netflix's lawyers and Fiddy Sens lawyers obviously felt like they had the right to purchase or secure the rights to that video.
00:09:30
Speaker 1: Or is worth the risk or it was worth the risk?
00:09:32
Speaker 2: But what it be worth the risk?
00:09:34
Speaker 1: I don't know. How much can you get sued for? What is the risk hourses reward with this thing that everybody is talking about right now and watching. How many streams are worth it, how many new subscriptions are worth it? I do not know, but maybe they made some kind of balance. Any photographer, anybody who's had experience with this. You hire a photographer, Yes, they're taking your pictures, but the pictures are still theirs. They own the rights to them unless you buy those rights. I can't imagine that Diddy having this person in his hotel room has not already arranged a deal that all of that stuff is his.
00:10:08
Speaker 2: Maybe he hadn't paid him yet. Maybe he had plans to do it, and then he got arrested and it fell through the cracks and he didn't think to compensate the videographer and someone else did.
00:10:20
Speaker 1: So it's fascinating. We're going back and forth. If you give a scenario, now I'm giving one. Now I'm thinking of another one. You'll think like, oh, maybe this, maybe this. You're right. I have no idea how this could have gone down. But they sent out a message to everybody letting them know that they didn't agree with what Netflix was doing. They called it a shameful hit piece. They said this stolen footage was never authorized for release. Uh, we go on here, I'll move down here, they said, Netflix, here it is. I guess this is what I was referencing, Robes. Netflix is plainly desperate to sensationalize every minute of mister Colem's life without regard for truth, in order to capitalize on a never ending media frenzy. I mean, there's probably some truth in that statement. Yes, it's probably a lot of truth. Yes, it does seem like a never ending media frenzy.
00:11:09
Speaker 2: Yes, And they went on to say if Netflix cared about truth or about mister Combe's legal rights, it would not be ripping private footage out of context, including conversations with his lawyers that were never intended for public viewing. No rights, and that material were ever transferred to Netflix or any third party. And that is interesting because when you have a conversation with your lawyer, that is protected. So that is interesting how they felt comfortable legally exposing a conversation that clearly is protected under the law.
00:11:42
Speaker 1: We're talking to a lawyer later today about a different case. I want to ask that question. I think, how is it possible you could ever be in possession of somebody's private conversation with their lawyer and you have the right to broadcast.
00:11:53
Speaker 2: It because you're in the public domain, because there.
00:11:55
Speaker 1: Is a domain.
00:11:56
Speaker 2: I'm just I know, I know, I'm trying to think in my head, like, is it because of you know, I know that public figures, obviously we've learned this the hard way, have very different legal standards they have to meet versus private citizens when it comes to privacy. But I did believe that regardless of who you are. No matter how big of a name you are, you have a protection under the law to have private conversations with certain people priests, therapists, maybe your doctor and your lawyer.
00:12:25
Speaker 1: And you hear Agnafilol's voice. It's not just the one sided you hear a full conversation. I am fascinated by this legal back this one part of this film. Like they mentioned this as well and Diddy's statement, and this is important they acknowledge. It is equally staggering that Netflix handed creative control to Curtis fifty cent Jackson, a long time adversary with a personal mendetta who has spent too much time slandering mister Combs. I don't know how much control he was given, but it seems like he was. But it is a is it Joyce?
00:13:01
Speaker 2: Yes? Yes, And he said beyond the legal issues, this is a personal breach of trust. Mister Combs has long respected Ted Surrandos, that is the head of Netflix, correct and admired the legacy of Clarence Avante. I don't know how to say that last name. I just want to make sure I didn't say it wrong. But for Netflix to give his life story to someone who has publicly attacked him for decades. Feels like an unnecessary and deeply personal affront. At minimum, he expected fairness from the people he respected.
00:13:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, why it seemed And someone pointed out another article why he seemed to want to go out of his way to like call out or speak to or say something about the Netflix ceo, Like why it was important too.
00:13:47
Speaker 2: Maybe they had had a previous relationship. But you know, to his point about Curtis Jackson about fifty cent, I thought it was interesting someone put up on their coverage of this back and forth that just take a look at what Jackson put on his Instagram to promote this piece. He said Netflix has concerned their server may not be able to handle everyone watching at once at twelve am Eastern time it goes live. And then put a movie check me out, he wrote, with you know, a little emoji for a like a film whatever when you mark a film. But he's excited, he's promoting it. I mean, it's this is his baby he's been working on. But no acknowledgment at all of the reaction from did he side.
00:14:34
Speaker 1: Look, they got everybody talking right now, and isn't that half the battle? He got people talking about it without even having a lift of finger.
00:14:40
Speaker 2: Were you impressed with I know that there have been other documentaries, but the amount of people and the people so close to Diddy who agreed to be a part of this, you.
00:14:49
Speaker 1: Know what, I don't know. I've seen a lot of documentaries. I've seen a lot about him over the years, to where there's very little eye here that's new or shocking, and so it just episode one. I mean, you have victim. We've heard victim stories for years, and some of the victims in here we have heard their names come up before, so there's nothing new. But it's just fascinating that first two minutes I told you, I said, we can't have this on in the background while we're doing other work because we're going to be focused so much on this documentary and so no, but for folks, you made the point I have. This guy's been in my life since I was in junior high school, someone that I absolutely admired, looked up to, was impressed by, and absolutely was completely honored the first time I got to meet him. I can't tell you how much this dude has been a part of my those years from junior high on everything and so to see this, you see a hero. You see a really impressive kid bringing him up from nothing story to where you if you don't know him, you'll watch this and go cheez.
00:15:57
Speaker 2: Well, that's right, that's it. That's what I'm I mean, I'm watching him. He was a hustler. But then to hear the backstory, and I should say, the allegations about how he was raised by his mother, what his father was like, and who his father was, and how he came up and how he was kind of nerdy and goofy and became what he was, And it was all through his own He went from being the intern to being so powerful and so talented that he was fired because they were concerned about him taking over the whole damn place.
00:16:27
Speaker 1: That's impressive.
00:16:28
Speaker 2: That's impressive, right, it just is.
00:16:30
Speaker 1: And it seems where to praise him after he's been in prison for what we've seen him do even but I guess that's it. It makes the story even sadder. Like Jesus Christ, it was a sad childhood. It was a just sad upbringing that contributed to.
00:16:46
Speaker 2: A warped sense of what's right.
00:16:48
Speaker 1: But he was talented enough to make it to change music. Oh my goodness. Well, folks, stay with us here, because we talk about this footage, this stolen footage so much. Well, how exactly does netflick explain how they're able to use the footage? We hear the statement from the director of this new Diddy documentary. Stay here, we picked back up here about the Uh. I guess it's the documentary that everybody's talking about, and we're talking about it now, The Reckoning Sean Combs. The Reckoning is what is officially called on Netflix fifty cent produced. It just dropped today. Everybody's talking and cease and desist from Diddy's team wanting them to not air this thing. They went ahead and did it anyway, and particularly because of some what they say is stolen footage. But it's pretty intimate footage. It is footage that is in the hotel room with Diddy before he's arrested in days.
00:17:52
Speaker 2: Talking to his lawyers they have which seems like a protected conversation. I don't know, you know what was interesting to me. I was learning a lot of things about him that I did not know. And I think a lot of people are in my camp. They know his music, they know his reputation, and certainly they followed the trial, but to go all the way back and look, there's a lot more to learn, because I still want to watch all three. We've only seen the first one. But this notion of him being a paper gangster, had you heard that before, Well, it's.
00:18:20
Speaker 1: A guy who some people got crid and some people got clout and some people have respect based on things they gathered from reputation, being quite frankly on the street. He amassed his power in a boardroom, in an office, and a guy was trying to make that connection, but he had this. He ends up. He's got a street connections, don't get me wrong, But he became that hustler, that gangster because of what he did in an office.
00:18:48
Speaker 2: And isn't part of in this They get into this in later episodes, but isn't part of the beef between fifty cent and Diddy. This whole back and forth West Coast, East Coast, Tupac. There are all these allegations about any role that he may have played in his death and all of that where they said he was maybe a paper gangster who thought he was a street gangster who then got confused. And that was a little bit of what I saw teased, and you're laughing because you know the story and I don't know anything. I'm like following along, like you know, just soaking it up because I don't know.
00:19:25
Speaker 1: It is classic hip hop history, and it absolutely was a part of putting hip hop on the map. East Coast versus West Coast, Tupac versus Biggie Sug versus Puffy, this is what it was. And I remember Sug at a awards show excepting an award, he said, yeah, come over to the West Coast if you want to do music and you don't want your producer all up into videos, like he was taking a direct shot. This is how we do it. We're the real gangsters. You in a hot tub, drinking champagne, talking about you this and that. That set it all up. So, yes, he was that guy. Man, that's fine, But he wasn't necessarily chasing street cred a way a lot of rappers necessarily did. But that beef that he was in the center of the biggest explosion of hip hop that we've ever seen.
00:20:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, and to hear how you know, all of these parties, all of these freak offs that we heard so much about during the trial. To think that perhaps the inspiration for them came in part from his own mother.
00:20:26
Speaker 1: They made that connection.
00:20:27
Speaker 2: That was jaw dropping to me.
00:20:28
Speaker 1: They made that connection. Is that fair? Is that right? I don't know, but they certainly did in the documentary. I'm sure he didn't appreciate that.
00:20:34
Speaker 2: I'm sure his mother didn't appreciate that either. They made a point to say they reached out to her in oh shocking. She didn't want to participate or react at all to what they were putting out there. But yeah, they went there and they drew that connection. And I hadn't heard that before.
00:20:47
Speaker 1: No, but his mom has been I mean she's there every day of the trial, every single might be the only one that did not miss a day in his family, possibly, but she's always been right there next to him. Yeah, there have always been those stories, but she did what she did to raise that child. There's a lot of people struggling and doing what they have to do in all kinds of places, and you there are folks who will see this story and relate to and go, wow, no excuse, but it helps you understand maybe his mindset a little better.
00:21:18
Speaker 2: It certainly did me and I and I find it to be fascinating. Do you actually think though, like at this point they've already put it out, they already had the threats. Of course, I'm sure they already knew that Diddy's team was going to seek legal action to try. But the idea that they would take it down or that seems far fetched to it.
00:21:35
Speaker 1: You'd have to be ordered to do so. Probably at this point, no threat of a lawsuit's going to do it. That they would have to be ordered to do so. So, So, yeah, how did they do this? This is the director we talked about just a short time ago. Again, she has great credits, so this is not just somebody they plucked off the street, Alexandria Stapleton. But the statement from her at least how they were able to use this footage quote, it came to us where we obtained the footage legally and have the necessary rights. Didn't go into much explanation after.
00:22:05
Speaker 2: That, Nope, But it seemed like, honestly, by not going to explanation, it feels like they feel very confident about where they stand legally.
00:22:15
Speaker 1: Or they're trying to be careful about getting into more trouble legally by saying as little as possible.
00:22:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, The next line, though, was very interesting to me. She went on to say, we moved heaven and earth to keep the filmmaker's identity confidential. That's the videographer.
00:22:32
Speaker 1: Who else is the film? Right? It has to be so did he knows who it is? There was one other guy in the room. They know who it is. Obviously, if did he seize that footage, he knows it got from that videographer's hand to where and how? Or did it was all this stuff in Diddy's possession. Did he have this stuff and in some kind of way somebody stole it and it got out? Either way, did he didn't authorize it? Who?
00:23:00
Speaker 2: She goes on to say, one thing about Sean Combs is that he's always filming himself and it's been an obsession throughout the decades. We also reached out to Shawn Comb's legal team for an interview and comment multiple times, but did not hear back.
00:23:15
Speaker 1: Just wait, he's probably he'll probably get around to it. I don't understand that either. She kind of made a pivot and started talking about something else. I don't know.
00:23:25
Speaker 2: She kind of trashed him. She was kind of saying his own ego, his own hubris his own need to document everything about his life is what got us this footage in the first place, so it kind of was like blaming him for the fact that they have this footage to begin with.
00:23:41
Speaker 1: How soon before you want to do episode two?
00:23:44
Speaker 2: Well, I think as soon as we watch the second episode if they're I mean, look, I don't know. To your point, I'll be learning things probably every minute. I'll be curious to see what you if you learn anything beyond what you already have heard or seen.
00:24:00
Speaker 1: Well, folks, check it out. We were joking at the top kinda that you should probably go ahead and watch it before it comes down, But as of now that thing is up. There's no indication, no word from Netflix that they're even giving us a thought about not leaving it up on their streaming service. So check it out, folks. We always appreciate you spending some time with us. Swimmer. Dear Amy Robot, I'm TJ. Holmes will talk to y'all realson
Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Tuesday, December second, the day that finally the much talked about fifty cent produced Diddy documentary hit Netflix. Hurry up and watch it because it might be gone at any moment. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. I say it might be gone because did he wants it gone? They want this thing. They've been talking about it, but they sent a cease and desist to Netflix and said, don't put this up. Netflix ripped up that cease and desist.
00:00:30
Speaker 2: Apparently, yes, they didn't seem to be bothered at all by it, because as promised at midnight Tuesday morning, twelve oh one, it was available for all to see. Four parts. They're sixty minutes each, and we've gotten through the first one.
00:00:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I don't know what to say it. I don't know how seriously. I'm not of a legal mind or anything like that. I don't imagine if they didn't take it down. They can't be that fearful of it, or it's worth the risk, because everybody's talking about this soccer today. Everybody's been talking might for quite some time. And I guess the centerpiece of the point of them wanting to take it down, is that you all are using footage that you all don't have the right to use, that you actually even stole and robes. It is the most fascinating part of at least the first episode that we've seen.
00:01:18
Speaker 2: That's right. The entire series starts out with that footage, and so it starts out with a bang. Because you are hearing and watching Sean Comb's six days before he's arrested. You can see that he seems panicked, that he is very emotionally fraught, and he is speaking urgently and even maybe fiercely with his attorneys.
00:01:44
Speaker 1: Now, yeah, the attorney in particular his superstar attorney, Mark Agnafilo, that put on a show by all accounts and get this man from possible life in prison to I guess the three years or four is it fifty fifty months that he's ultimately going to do. But the documentary, it got so much attention. There have been a lot quite frankly, hell, TMZ has done a documentary. Everybody's done a documentary on Diddy. It seems there are others you can find on streaming services. But Rose it was because of fifty Cents involvement, and he has been trolling Didty Since the first bottle of baby oil got found before he was arrested, he's been sending out social media whatnot. These two have been adversaries kind of publicly in the rap game for a long time, but his involvement had people's attention really into.
00:02:32
Speaker 2: Correct because they question, and certainly we've now heard from Sean Combs and his lawyer's question the motive and not even question it, but directly accuse the motive here for this documentary that it is a smear campaign, a hit piece on Ditty, and that was the agenda from start to finish, according to Ditty's camp.
00:02:53
Speaker 1: On a side note here, we'll get back into this, but did you feel that initially the first episode one felt like a hit piece of it?
00:02:59
Speaker 2: Did not? Didn't to me either, It did not feel like a hit piece at all. In fact, look, you have followed Sean Combe's career from the beginning. I have not, and so I was learning things that you already were very familiar with. I actually was fascinated by it and felt like I was getting a deeper better understanding of what led to what we all saw in court, the spectacle that it was this past summer. I felt already just with the first episode that I have a better understanding of him.
00:03:32
Speaker 1: And I guess what they are saying. They have some new or never before heard or seen interviews people sharing, but a lot of it so far is a rehash of a lot of what we do know about his life and hearing from some people we're familiar with. But there are some new interviews. But this is the Reckoning. They called it Sean Combs. The Reckoning came out today, produced by fifty Cent, directed by this woman's got some great credentials, Alexandria Staple Doone. She is a documentary filmmaker who has done some significant work over the years. This is a four part series sixty minutes each, so it's very digestible. But that's why it's a big deal, because of fifteen, because of who else is in it robes the Diddy statement. Look, I think it's been a part from the very beginning of the trial, didn't he or I think got in trouble during the trial because I found out his kids he was directing his kids to do something on social media.
00:04:26
Speaker 2: Yes, for his birthday. He look and you see this a little bit in this footage that they have where he is very aware and this is brilliant on his part because he gets it if you lose your PR campaign, if you lose the battle for public opinion, you lose. And so he was very aware of this. So he was, according to people who were accusing him of staging, having his kids do things for him on behalf of him to make him look good or better in the public's eye along on social media.
00:04:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that makes sense, it does.
00:05:00
Speaker 2: This makes sense.
00:05:00
Speaker 1: I screamed out to you in the next room or something. I said. He's smart because he said something in the beginning in the back and forth with his lawyer about his lawyer seemed relieved. Almost, Hey, it's September. You haven't been indicted, right, and I'm watching all these news outlets and and and everything. Nobody seems to be talking about it. Diddy said, you're in the wrong place. It's nine billion people on Earth, seven billion dollar Instagram, and not just watching CNN. You're looking at the wrong audience and being concerned about us winning or losing a PR battle. I heard that, like, damn yeah, good point.
00:05:32
Speaker 2: And he was right. And he's flat out told Mark Agnefilo, we're losing, and he was angry and he wanted them. He said, look, I'm paying you all. You figure it out. I'm not going to sit here and tell you what to do. You all communicate better with one another, you get a better strategy, and then you tell me what we're gonna do.
00:05:50
Speaker 1: So this that video at the beginning, and it goes a full two minutes, and I'm not sure how much is going to be throughout the rest of the series, but that two minutes, you're hooked, You're you're in. We are talking about folks, that hotel where he was arrested. He this video shows him in that hotel days before that arrest, on the phone, making plans on a bike, rolling through the streets of New York City. It is incredible to see, yes, what was happening.
00:06:16
Speaker 2: And look, I didn't realize this about him. And this is a part of their issue because they said, hey, Shaw Combs has been basically chronicling his life, videoing his life since he was nineteen. He's always had a plan to have his own documentary about his own life, and so there were always cameras following him. So that was what was so interesting to me. At a one of his darkest moments, his most frightening moments, the days leading up to his arrest, where he didn't know what was going to happen. He had the wherewithal, the forethought to have someone documenting everything, the good, the bad, the ugly. I was taken by the fact that the videographer whoever was behind that camera swung around and from his hotel room window you could see police officers on rooftops seemingly monitoring gulps to make sure they knew where he was coming and going. I did not realize that he had that level of surveillance going on that.
00:07:13
Speaker 1: First two minutes, I'm blown away. There's a moment where he's standing outside where you actually it was the first time you see maybe some real concern and pain from him as he's talking about just a desperation, desperation like this is bullshit, is what he said. I gotta deal with this shit. And he actually seemed weary and worn and not ready for another fight, So that the first two minutes are absolutely fascinating with what's.
00:07:39
Speaker 2: Going on, Yes, and so we get to actually it's almost as if you were there you wondered what it was like for him. You actually are along with him. You feel like you're along the ride with him in those moments leading up to his arrest, and you feel his deep concern his I felt like he was almost panicked. Look, he's a cool cucumber, you can see that, but there was this bubbling panic that was there that you could see and feel and witness as you saw him go about his day and yet still stopping to take selfies with folks who were all trying to get their picture with him, and he was actually very accommodating.
00:08:13
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, you're still friendly, smiling and everything. I just wonder where those pictures ended up. You know, those guys had no idea.
00:08:21
Speaker 2: I thought about that. They couldn't imagine. They couldn't have known at the time that they were getting one of the last selfies ever of Diddy before he was ultimately arrested and put away for years and years and years.
00:08:33
Speaker 1: Last possible selfies for you careers that are possible with Diddy. They got them and had no idea they did. His rep put out a statement today talking about that particular footage. So that's the question. Robes. This is his personal videographer in that hotel room with him, how in the hell does Netflix get the rights to that video? Who owns it?
00:08:56
Speaker 2: Well, that's the question. The logical thing I mean in the place I jump to is that the videographer ended up saying this is mine, these are my this is my footage. I took it, I creatively recorded it, so it's my footage to then sell or give to whomever I want. But I don't know what the legality behind all of that is. Obviously, Netflix's lawyers and Fiddy Sens lawyers obviously felt like they had the right to purchase or secure the rights to that video.
00:09:30
Speaker 1: Or is worth the risk or it was worth the risk?
00:09:32
Speaker 2: But what it be worth the risk?
00:09:34
Speaker 1: I don't know. How much can you get sued for? What is the risk hourses reward with this thing that everybody is talking about right now and watching. How many streams are worth it, how many new subscriptions are worth it? I do not know, but maybe they made some kind of balance. Any photographer, anybody who's had experience with this. You hire a photographer, Yes, they're taking your pictures, but the pictures are still theirs. They own the rights to them unless you buy those rights. I can't imagine that Diddy having this person in his hotel room has not already arranged a deal that all of that stuff is his.
00:10:08
Speaker 2: Maybe he hadn't paid him yet. Maybe he had plans to do it, and then he got arrested and it fell through the cracks and he didn't think to compensate the videographer and someone else did.
00:10:20
Speaker 1: So it's fascinating. We're going back and forth. If you give a scenario, now I'm giving one. Now I'm thinking of another one. You'll think like, oh, maybe this, maybe this. You're right. I have no idea how this could have gone down. But they sent out a message to everybody letting them know that they didn't agree with what Netflix was doing. They called it a shameful hit piece. They said this stolen footage was never authorized for release. Uh, we go on here, I'll move down here, they said, Netflix, here it is. I guess this is what I was referencing, Robes. Netflix is plainly desperate to sensationalize every minute of mister Colem's life without regard for truth, in order to capitalize on a never ending media frenzy. I mean, there's probably some truth in that statement. Yes, it's probably a lot of truth. Yes, it does seem like a never ending media frenzy.
00:11:09
Speaker 2: Yes, And they went on to say if Netflix cared about truth or about mister Combe's legal rights, it would not be ripping private footage out of context, including conversations with his lawyers that were never intended for public viewing. No rights, and that material were ever transferred to Netflix or any third party. And that is interesting because when you have a conversation with your lawyer, that is protected. So that is interesting how they felt comfortable legally exposing a conversation that clearly is protected under the law.
00:11:42
Speaker 1: We're talking to a lawyer later today about a different case. I want to ask that question. I think, how is it possible you could ever be in possession of somebody's private conversation with their lawyer and you have the right to broadcast.
00:11:53
Speaker 2: It because you're in the public domain, because there.
00:11:55
Speaker 1: Is a domain.
00:11:56
Speaker 2: I'm just I know, I know, I'm trying to think in my head, like, is it because of you know, I know that public figures, obviously we've learned this the hard way, have very different legal standards they have to meet versus private citizens when it comes to privacy. But I did believe that regardless of who you are. No matter how big of a name you are, you have a protection under the law to have private conversations with certain people priests, therapists, maybe your doctor and your lawyer.
00:12:25
Speaker 1: And you hear Agnafilol's voice. It's not just the one sided you hear a full conversation. I am fascinated by this legal back this one part of this film. Like they mentioned this as well and Diddy's statement, and this is important they acknowledge. It is equally staggering that Netflix handed creative control to Curtis fifty cent Jackson, a long time adversary with a personal mendetta who has spent too much time slandering mister Combs. I don't know how much control he was given, but it seems like he was. But it is a is it Joyce?
00:13:01
Speaker 2: Yes? Yes, And he said beyond the legal issues, this is a personal breach of trust. Mister Combs has long respected Ted Surrandos, that is the head of Netflix, correct and admired the legacy of Clarence Avante. I don't know how to say that last name. I just want to make sure I didn't say it wrong. But for Netflix to give his life story to someone who has publicly attacked him for decades. Feels like an unnecessary and deeply personal affront. At minimum, he expected fairness from the people he respected.
00:13:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, why it seemed And someone pointed out another article why he seemed to want to go out of his way to like call out or speak to or say something about the Netflix ceo, Like why it was important too.
00:13:47
Speaker 2: Maybe they had had a previous relationship. But you know, to his point about Curtis Jackson about fifty cent, I thought it was interesting someone put up on their coverage of this back and forth that just take a look at what Jackson put on his Instagram to promote this piece. He said Netflix has concerned their server may not be able to handle everyone watching at once at twelve am Eastern time it goes live. And then put a movie check me out, he wrote, with you know, a little emoji for a like a film whatever when you mark a film. But he's excited, he's promoting it. I mean, it's this is his baby he's been working on. But no acknowledgment at all of the reaction from did he side.
00:14:34
Speaker 1: Look, they got everybody talking right now, and isn't that half the battle? He got people talking about it without even having a lift of finger.
00:14:40
Speaker 2: Were you impressed with I know that there have been other documentaries, but the amount of people and the people so close to Diddy who agreed to be a part of this, you.
00:14:49
Speaker 1: Know what, I don't know. I've seen a lot of documentaries. I've seen a lot about him over the years, to where there's very little eye here that's new or shocking, and so it just episode one. I mean, you have victim. We've heard victim stories for years, and some of the victims in here we have heard their names come up before, so there's nothing new. But it's just fascinating that first two minutes I told you, I said, we can't have this on in the background while we're doing other work because we're going to be focused so much on this documentary and so no, but for folks, you made the point I have. This guy's been in my life since I was in junior high school, someone that I absolutely admired, looked up to, was impressed by, and absolutely was completely honored the first time I got to meet him. I can't tell you how much this dude has been a part of my those years from junior high on everything and so to see this, you see a hero. You see a really impressive kid bringing him up from nothing story to where you if you don't know him, you'll watch this and go cheez.
00:15:57
Speaker 2: Well, that's right, that's it. That's what I'm I mean, I'm watching him. He was a hustler. But then to hear the backstory, and I should say, the allegations about how he was raised by his mother, what his father was like, and who his father was, and how he came up and how he was kind of nerdy and goofy and became what he was, And it was all through his own He went from being the intern to being so powerful and so talented that he was fired because they were concerned about him taking over the whole damn place.
00:16:27
Speaker 1: That's impressive.
00:16:28
Speaker 2: That's impressive, right, it just is.
00:16:30
Speaker 1: And it seems where to praise him after he's been in prison for what we've seen him do even but I guess that's it. It makes the story even sadder. Like Jesus Christ, it was a sad childhood. It was a just sad upbringing that contributed to.
00:16:46
Speaker 2: A warped sense of what's right.
00:16:48
Speaker 1: But he was talented enough to make it to change music. Oh my goodness. Well, folks, stay with us here, because we talk about this footage, this stolen footage so much. Well, how exactly does netflick explain how they're able to use the footage? We hear the statement from the director of this new Diddy documentary. Stay here, we picked back up here about the Uh. I guess it's the documentary that everybody's talking about, and we're talking about it now, The Reckoning Sean Combs. The Reckoning is what is officially called on Netflix fifty cent produced. It just dropped today. Everybody's talking and cease and desist from Diddy's team wanting them to not air this thing. They went ahead and did it anyway, and particularly because of some what they say is stolen footage. But it's pretty intimate footage. It is footage that is in the hotel room with Diddy before he's arrested in days.
00:17:52
Speaker 2: Talking to his lawyers they have which seems like a protected conversation. I don't know, you know what was interesting to me. I was learning a lot of things about him that I did not know. And I think a lot of people are in my camp. They know his music, they know his reputation, and certainly they followed the trial, but to go all the way back and look, there's a lot more to learn, because I still want to watch all three. We've only seen the first one. But this notion of him being a paper gangster, had you heard that before, Well, it's.
00:18:20
Speaker 1: A guy who some people got crid and some people got clout and some people have respect based on things they gathered from reputation, being quite frankly on the street. He amassed his power in a boardroom, in an office, and a guy was trying to make that connection, but he had this. He ends up. He's got a street connections, don't get me wrong, But he became that hustler, that gangster because of what he did in an office.
00:18:48
Speaker 2: And isn't part of in this They get into this in later episodes, but isn't part of the beef between fifty cent and Diddy. This whole back and forth West Coast, East Coast, Tupac. There are all these allegations about any role that he may have played in his death and all of that where they said he was maybe a paper gangster who thought he was a street gangster who then got confused. And that was a little bit of what I saw teased, and you're laughing because you know the story and I don't know anything. I'm like following along, like you know, just soaking it up because I don't know.
00:19:25
Speaker 1: It is classic hip hop history, and it absolutely was a part of putting hip hop on the map. East Coast versus West Coast, Tupac versus Biggie Sug versus Puffy, this is what it was. And I remember Sug at a awards show excepting an award, he said, yeah, come over to the West Coast if you want to do music and you don't want your producer all up into videos, like he was taking a direct shot. This is how we do it. We're the real gangsters. You in a hot tub, drinking champagne, talking about you this and that. That set it all up. So, yes, he was that guy. Man, that's fine, But he wasn't necessarily chasing street cred a way a lot of rappers necessarily did. But that beef that he was in the center of the biggest explosion of hip hop that we've ever seen.
00:20:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, and to hear how you know, all of these parties, all of these freak offs that we heard so much about during the trial. To think that perhaps the inspiration for them came in part from his own mother.
00:20:26
Speaker 1: They made that connection.
00:20:27
Speaker 2: That was jaw dropping to me.
00:20:28
Speaker 1: They made that connection. Is that fair? Is that right? I don't know, but they certainly did in the documentary. I'm sure he didn't appreciate that.
00:20:34
Speaker 2: I'm sure his mother didn't appreciate that either. They made a point to say they reached out to her in oh shocking. She didn't want to participate or react at all to what they were putting out there. But yeah, they went there and they drew that connection. And I hadn't heard that before.
00:20:47
Speaker 1: No, but his mom has been I mean she's there every day of the trial, every single might be the only one that did not miss a day in his family, possibly, but she's always been right there next to him. Yeah, there have always been those stories, but she did what she did to raise that child. There's a lot of people struggling and doing what they have to do in all kinds of places, and you there are folks who will see this story and relate to and go, wow, no excuse, but it helps you understand maybe his mindset a little better.
00:21:18
Speaker 2: It certainly did me and I and I find it to be fascinating. Do you actually think though, like at this point they've already put it out, they already had the threats. Of course, I'm sure they already knew that Diddy's team was going to seek legal action to try. But the idea that they would take it down or that seems far fetched to it.
00:21:35
Speaker 1: You'd have to be ordered to do so. Probably at this point, no threat of a lawsuit's going to do it. That they would have to be ordered to do so. So, So, yeah, how did they do this? This is the director we talked about just a short time ago. Again, she has great credits, so this is not just somebody they plucked off the street, Alexandria Stapleton. But the statement from her at least how they were able to use this footage quote, it came to us where we obtained the footage legally and have the necessary rights. Didn't go into much explanation after.
00:22:05
Speaker 2: That, Nope, But it seemed like, honestly, by not going to explanation, it feels like they feel very confident about where they stand legally.
00:22:15
Speaker 1: Or they're trying to be careful about getting into more trouble legally by saying as little as possible.
00:22:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, The next line, though, was very interesting to me. She went on to say, we moved heaven and earth to keep the filmmaker's identity confidential. That's the videographer.
00:22:32
Speaker 1: Who else is the film? Right? It has to be so did he knows who it is? There was one other guy in the room. They know who it is. Obviously, if did he seize that footage, he knows it got from that videographer's hand to where and how? Or did it was all this stuff in Diddy's possession. Did he have this stuff and in some kind of way somebody stole it and it got out? Either way, did he didn't authorize it? Who?
00:23:00
Speaker 2: She goes on to say, one thing about Sean Combs is that he's always filming himself and it's been an obsession throughout the decades. We also reached out to Shawn Comb's legal team for an interview and comment multiple times, but did not hear back.
00:23:15
Speaker 1: Just wait, he's probably he'll probably get around to it. I don't understand that either. She kind of made a pivot and started talking about something else. I don't know.
00:23:25
Speaker 2: She kind of trashed him. She was kind of saying his own ego, his own hubris his own need to document everything about his life is what got us this footage in the first place, so it kind of was like blaming him for the fact that they have this footage to begin with.
00:23:41
Speaker 1: How soon before you want to do episode two?
00:23:44
Speaker 2: Well, I think as soon as we watch the second episode if they're I mean, look, I don't know. To your point, I'll be learning things probably every minute. I'll be curious to see what you if you learn anything beyond what you already have heard or seen.
00:24:00
Speaker 1: Well, folks, check it out. We were joking at the top kinda that you should probably go ahead and watch it before it comes down, But as of now that thing is up. There's no indication, no word from Netflix that they're even giving us a thought about not leaving it up on their streaming service. So check it out, folks. We always appreciate you spending some time with us. Swimmer. Dear Amy Robot, I'm TJ. Holmes will talk to y'all realson