Sean “Diddy” Combs' personal videographer has opened up about how Netflix and 50 Cent claim to have obtained behind-the-scenes footage of Combs for their documentary series Sean Combs: The Reckoning, which unravels the allegations behind the rapper and his Bad Boy Entertainment empire.
The videographer, Michael Obarese, claims the footage was released by a freelancer hired to replace him while he was out of state for several days.
“For more than two years, I have been working on a project profiling Sean 'Diddy' Combs,” O'Barrys told Rolling Stone. “The footage in question was not released by me or anyone authorized to handle Sean Combs' material, but by a third party who compensated me on my behalf for three days while I was out of state. This incident had nothing to do with any fee dispute or contract issue.”
“The actions of those involved reflect a lack of integrity that all storytellers are supposed to uphold. Shooting footage intended for our project to advance a story that is not ours is unethical and unacceptable.”
The footage Mr. O'Barrys is referring to includes footage shot in a New York City hotel room days before his arrest in September 2024, days before Mr. Combs was indicted on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges for allegedly beating and abusing women and running a sex crime empire over a period of more than a decade.
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Footage featured in the 50 Cent-produced Netflix documentary series shares conversations with Combs' legal team about how to proceed with the case.
“We have to find someone to work with us, whether it's from this country or from another country, who does the dirtiest dirty work of media and propaganda,” Combs told his lawyer Mark Agnifilo by phone, adding later: “We're losing.”
In another scene, Combs meets with fans in Harlem, where he later says he needed hand sanitizer because he was “out in the street with people.”
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“How many people are you actually in contact with? That's what I have to do,” he said, asking those around him for hand sanitizer. “It's cleansing time. You have to dive into the water. The water is boiling, so put some peroxide in it.”
The day before the documentary series was released on Netflix, Combs' representatives released a statement calling the film a “disgraceful hit.”
“Today's Good Morning America teaser confirmed that Netflix relied on stolen footage that it was not authorized to release. As Netflix and CEO Ted Sarandos know, Mr. Combs has been collecting footage since he was 19 years old to tell his story in his own way. Netflix's exploitation of that work is fundamentally unfair and illegal,” the Dec. 1 statement said.
A representative for Mr. Combs said that Netflix was “clearly desperate to sensationalize every moment of Mr. Combs' life, ignoring the truth, in order to capitalize on the never-ending media frenzy.”
“If Netflix cared about the truth and Mr. Combs' legal rights, it would not cut private footage out of context, including conversations with his attorney, that were never intended for public viewing. No rights in that material were ever transferred to Netflix or any third party,” the statement said.
“No rights in that material were transferred to Netflix or any third party,” the statement continued. “It is equally surprising that Netflix has ceded creative control to Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson, a longtime adversary who has a personal vendetta and has spent far too much time smearing Mr. Combs.”
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In a statement on Netflix's official news site Tudum, Sean Combs: The Reckoning director Alexandria Stapleton said behind-the-scenes footage “has reached us.”
“We obtained that footage legally and have the necessary rights. One of the things you can say about Sean Combs is that he was always filming himself, and that was an obsession for decades,” Stapleton said.
She also claimed that the documentary team “reached out to Sean Combs' legal team multiple times for interviews and comment, but received no response.”
In a second statement sent to Deadline by a Netflix spokesperson, the streamer further emphasized: “The footage of Combs leading up to his indictment and arrest was obtained legally. This is not a blockbuster or an act of retaliation. Curtis Jackson is an executive producer, but has no creative control. No one received any participation fees.”
50 Cent insisted the documentary was not part of a “personal vendetta” to oust Combs.
“I'm not doing this as a personal mission. I'm telling stories that other people don't tell, because I don't have the fear that other people have for him. I'm not scared at all,” he said in an interview with Us Weekly on Tuesday.
Asked how he obtained the footage taken before Combs' arrest, 50 Cent said: “That's what a journalist would ask, but a journalist would also say, 'I'm going to protect my sources.'”
Combs is currently serving a 50-month prison sentence after a New York jury found him guilty of two counts of transportation for the purpose of prostitution and acquitted him of the most serious counts of extortion and sex trafficking.
The disgraced 56-year-old hip-hop mogul was originally scheduled to be released from prison on May 8, 2028, but that date has been moved to June 4, 2028, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons' online database.
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