Inside Diddy's Netflix Documentary: 50 Cent's 10 Must-Know Takeaways

Netflix did not wait for the dust to settle. Two months after Sean 'Diddy' Combs was hit with a 50-month prison sentence, the streamer dropped 'Sean Combs: The Reckoning,' a four-part docuseries produced by 50 Cent and directed by Alexandria Stapleton. It tracks Combs from Uptown Records intern to Bad Boy Records boss, then wades straight into the storm: since 2023, the doc says more than 100 civil lawsuits have been filed against him, including the headline-making case from Cassie Ventura. The series mixes new interviews (jurors, collaborators, former partners) with never-before-seen footage, including September 2024 clips of Combs ripping into his own lawyers as the allegations piled up. Netflix is already catching legal heat over some of that material, which Combs’ camp calls stolen. Here are the biggest swings the series takes, laid out cleanly.

1. Six days before his arrest, Combs plots a media war from a hotel room

   The doc opens with a rare slice of access: Combs in a New York hotel room, six days before he was taken into custody, on the phone with his attorney about his public-image crisis. Days later, he was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation to engage in prostitution.

   'We have to find somebody that will work with us, that has dealt in the dirtiest of dirty business of media and propaganda. We are losing.'

   Director Alexandria Stapleton frames it as part of Combs’ long-running habit of filming himself. Combs’ spokesperson, Ken Engelmayer, blasts Netflix for using what he says is unauthorized, stolen footage and calls the release unfair and illegal. He also says Combs had been developing his own documentary, but talks with Netflix stalled over creative control.

2. Allegations of abuse long before Cassie

   The series includes claims that Combs was violent with the late Kim Porter and stylist Misa Hylton. Bad Boy Records co-founder Kirk Burrowes describes a street altercation outside Uptown Records where he says Combs pushed things into physical territory. For context: Combs and Porter's children have publicly denied other abuse claims in the past.

3. Aubrey O'Day says she lost her spot in Danity Kane after refusing him

   O'Day says Combs singled her out as the group's 'looker' and that she believes she was pushed out for rejecting sexual advances. She shares messages she says are from Combs that read like command-and-control, including that he makes his partner do what he says and that he likes to do things 'different.' Combs denies her allegations.

4. Cassie Ventura describes 'freak off' parties

   Ventura details multi-day 'freak off' events where she says Combs forced her into sexual acts with male sex workers. Witness Clayton Howard says Ventura would flee after assaults, then return. Ventura and Combs both deny any drug use at these events, though Ventura says he filmed her as a means of control.

5. New Harlem clip catches the nice-guy act flipping off-camera

   Shortly before his arrest, Combs films himself glad-handing fans in Harlem. Once he walks away, the tone shifts: he complains about needing to sanitize and essentially scrub himself clean after dozens of hugs, even joking about boiling water and peroxide. It is not a great look for a hometown victory lap.

6. Witness says Combs was high during those 'freak offs'

   Howard, a male sex worker who says he took part in the events, claims Combs was almost always under the influence and alleges baby oil at the parties was laced with GHB. Ventura and Combs both deny any drug use.

7. A claim that O'Day was assaulted while incapacitated

   One lawsuit cited in the doc alleges a witness saw Combs sexually assault O'Day while she was intoxicated. O'Day says she does not drink, did not remember the incident, and has wrestled with whether that means she was raped. Combs denies the allegation.

8. The hotel lockdown footage shows how tightly he ran his legal team

   Stapleton and 50 Cent would not tell THR how they got the behind-the-scenes videos, but the doc features new footage Combs shot while largely holed up in a Manhattan hotel as his arrest neared in September 2024. He looks anxious and intense, and he bluntly orders his large legal and PR teams to fix the narrative. That material is now its own legal fight: Combs’ lawyers sent Netflix a takedown notice and labeled the series a shameful hit piece and an illegal use of deeply personal footage.

9. A 1992 letter surfaces from Joi Dickerson-Neal’s mother

   After Ventura sued in November 2023, Joi Dickerson-Neal filed a separate suit just before New York’s temporary 'look-back' window closed, alleging Combs drugged, raped, and recorded her in 1991. In the doc, she reads from a letter her mother sent to Combs’ mother, Janice, dated November 26, 1992, alleging that Combs secretly videotaped sex with Dickerson-Neal and then showed the tape to roughly 60 people. Combs denies these claims.

10. A claim that he struck his mother after a 1991 tragedy

    Burrowes alleges that after a deadly 1991 event, Combs slapped his mother, Janice, and hurled an insult at her. Childhood friend Tim Patterson says the beatings he witnessed left him scared, and describes Combs’ childhood home as a place where they were literally made to perform on a living-room stage. It is one of the doc’s most unsettling detours, and the kind of detail that is going to stick with viewers.

The series is comprehensive, messy, and clearly built to challenge whatever image you have of one of hip-hop’s most powerful figures. Combs has denied the allegations throughout, and his team is actively fighting Netflix over the footage at the heart of the show. 'Sean Combs: The Reckoning' is streaming now on Netflix.