50 Cent Finally Explains His 20-Year Feud With Diddy as New Netflix Documentary Drops
As a new Netflix documentary lands, 50 Cent finally unpacks his two-decade feud with Diddy, charting the origins, the power plays, and why the bad blood still won’t die down.
50 Cent is not exactly subtle about his feelings toward Sean 'Diddy' Combs, and with his Netflix doc 'Sean Combs: The Reckoning' about to drop, he took that energy to Good Morning America. He sat with Robin Roberts alongside the series director, Alexandria Stapleton, and laid out why he has kept his distance from Diddy for about two decades and why he wanted this series made now.
So why the 20-year standoff?
On GMA, Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson said the so-called 'pre-existing beef' goes back roughly 20 years and started with something that made him instantly uncomfortable: Diddy suggesting he take him shopping. Jackson says he read that as a test, like an invite to see if he would 'come play' in a way he wanted no part of. He has talked about this before, telling The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year that it felt like something a man would say to a woman and that the vibe was, in his words, way too weird.
If you are mapping out the timeline, it tracks with when people say the feud heated up publicly: around 2006, when 50 released 'The Bomb' and suggested Diddy had some connection to the 1997 murder of Biggie Smalls. Diddy has denied that. Jackson’s '20 years' comment lines up with that period, and his story suggests the awkward shopping conversation happened around the same time.
Why make the doc at all?
Roberts pushed him on a criticism that has been floating around: that the documentary is just capitalizing on Diddy’s legal situation instead of centering alleged victims. Jackson said it is not about personal gain or settling a score, but about making sure artists in the culture are not silent.
"If I didn’t say anything, you would interpret it as hip-hop is fine with his behaviors. There’s no one else being vocal."
What the cameras caught
The trailer has already kicked up a fuss because it includes candid footage of Diddy in the days before his September 2024 arrest. Netflix obtained video of him at the Park Hyatt in New York City on the phone with his legal team, sounding rattled about where things were headed.
"Let me get off the phone right now, and I am going to let you professionals look at the situation and come back to me with a solution... Y’all are not working together the right way. We’re losing."
50 Cent said he was surprised Diddy allowed that to be filmed at all. Another clip shows Diddy walking through Harlem seeking support, only to hop back in the car and say he needed hand sanitizer and to take a bath after being around so many people. Jackson’s read on that scene was blunt: it tells you a lot about who Diddy is.
The series, at a glance
- 'Sean Combs: The Reckoning' is a four-part Netflix documentary premiering December 2.
- Directed by Alexandria Stapleton, with 50 Cent front and center driving the conversation.
- Focus: Diddy’s rise in the music industry and the controversies around him.
- Includes exclusive interviews with former associates, friends, and employees.
- Promises 'explosive, never-before-seen' material, including footage from the days leading up to Diddy’s September 2024 arrest.
There is a lot here that will stir debate, from the origin story of 50’s discomfort to the way the doc frames Diddy’s world right before everything went sideways. We will see how much of it lands when the series hits Netflix on December 2.