When Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson declared his intent to develop a documentary concerning the sexual abuse, rape and intercourse trafficking allegations in opposition to Sean “Diddy” Combs, many didn’t imagine him. Those that did thought him opportunistic for pursuing what was assumed can be successful piece about his former rap rival.
“I knew some [people] would have something negative to say about the doc because they would look at it and go, ‘Ugh, kicking the man while [he’s] down,’ ” says Jackson. “These are people that have had relationships [with Combs]. … That’s not what it is. It’s finally saying something about it.”
Regardless of the dismissals, Sean Combs: The Reckoning, govt produced by Jackson and directed by documentarian Alex Stapleton, premiered in December on Netflix to essential acclaim. The four-part docuseries was praised for its meticulous timeline, its unwillingness to have interaction with essentially the most sensationalized allegations in opposition to Combs and its inclusion of candid footage of the hip-hop mogul within the days main as much as his September 2024 arrest. The duo delivered arguably essentially the most complete examination of what Stapleton calls the “tentacles” of industry-backed energy that enabled a long time of alleged exploitation and violence.
Six different nonfiction tasks concerning the fees in opposition to Combs have been produced since 2024, however none have began on the true genesis of his profession. Jackson and Stapleton fastidiously thread the entrepreneur’s enterprise trajectory with the ascension of hip-hop in New York Metropolis, essential context they believed to be lacking from the general public’s grasp of Combs’ affect.
“It’s hard to understand, just on a [historical] timeline, how did everything happen?” says Stapleton. “It was the perfect storm in a lot of ways. You don’t have Sean Combs without the beginning of hip-hop stirring, and all these things had to go right for him to do the things that he did.”
Although the collaborators have been already creating one other mission collectively, they jumped on the telephone after information broke of singer Cassie Ventura’s sexual assault lawsuit in opposition to Combs in November 2023 and started a collection of “intense” conversations about producing a documentary.
As a substitute of taking a reactionary strategy to essentially the most salacious headlines, Stapleton says they opted to “pause” as they “watched other documentaries come” and in the end go. “It’s not like we were telling a story that went down 30 years ago. It was unfolding every day,” she says. “It was also very important to us and to Netflix that we were not going to put this out until we felt like we were done — and we were definitely not going to put it out before the trial. That just felt like you were shooting yourself in the foot. You weren’t even allowing the process to happen.”
Stapleton relied on Jackson’s personal immersion within the New York rap scene to determine sources who’d lengthy had proximity to Combs — and can be keen to cooperate — to craft a complete image of him within the doc, together with former Dangerous Boy Leisure co-founder Kirk Burrowes, musical collaborators Aubrey O’Day and Kalenna Harper, Combs’ childhood buddy Tim “Dawg” Patterson, and one among Combs’ earliest alleged victims, Joi Dickerson-Neal.
“No one had heard of her. [That’s why] her voice is so powerful,” says Stapleton. “There was a legal and archival process to even vet her story, to be able to show these records,” she provides of the corroborative oral fact-checking and substantiation that happened, noting that most of the interviewees within the docuseries presently have lively lawsuits in opposition to Combs. “It was really important to us
to not just have people criticizing him.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs and together with his Dangerous Boy label artist Biggie Smalls in footage from Sean Combs: The Reckoning.
Courtesy of Netflix
Stapleton stored the manufacturing group small to guard the integrity of the filmmaking course of however calls the sourcing and modifying for the doc a “Herculean job” — one underscored by three main will get: ostensibly connecting Combs to the murders of Biggie and Tupac Shakur; interviews with Jurors 160 and 75 from Combs’ trial; and acquiring never-before-seen footage of Combs the week of his arrest.
The recordings depict Combs as anxious, controlling and embattled, hyperaware of his authorized and PR group’s slippery grasp on his state of affairs. Combs’ group claims the footage was acquired illegally, sending Netflix a cease-and-desist forward of The Reckoning’s launch. Jackson and Stapleton present no additional perception on how the footage was obtained, however Jackson says incorporating the movies into the doc was a “no-brainer.”
“We were already very far down the line before we got it. So it wasn’t like the documentary or a whole team was built around this footage,” says Stapleton. “All the footage really did was back up and reinforce a lot of what the people in interviews were saying about his demeanor, the way he operates. … He was filming himself when a normal person would be under complete duress.”
The uncooked footage drew sturdy reactions from audiences and sure contributed to the doc’s voracious viewership. Through the first week of its launch, The Reckoning took the No. 1 spot on Netflix’s U.S. high 10, outperforming the ultimate season of Stranger Issues. Globally, the docuseries sat shut behind the Duffer brothers’ collection with greater than 21 million views.
Stapleton, nonetheless, measures the docuseries’ success by how the alleged victims’ tales resonated with the general public.
Doc producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and director Alex Stapleton.
Courtesy of G-Unit Movie & Tv; Getty Photos
“It was really important to make something that a Black audience would respect and understand, that would translate, that felt like it was made from us,” she says. “It was important to make sure that it was accessible to as many people as possible. That’s how you give a voice to the voiceless. … I think a lot of people are like, ‘Why are you tearing down a Black man?’ You could look at it that way, or you could look at what Black journalism did. Look at what we were able to do as a team of Black filmmakers.”
Following his July 2025 conviction on two counts of transportation to have interaction in prostitution, Combs is serving a 50-month sentence at New Jersey’s FCI Fort Dix and is predicted to be launched in April 2028. Neither Jackson nor Stapleton are satisfied his story is over.
“I do believe that his time will be shortened,” says Jackson. “I imagine he’ll be house early. We’ll see who’s on the subsequent events. [His conviction] doesn’t imply that they’re going to cease. There’s not sufficient time going by for change. … He bought away with a number of stuff, so you must anticipate him to assume he can get away with extra.
This story first appeared in a June stand-alone challenge of The Hollywood Reporter journal. To obtain the journal, click here to subscribe.
