Diddy Drops Bombshell Lawsuit Accusing Liquor Company of Racism
Jan. 16 2024, Published 10:35 a.m. ET
Diddy has dropped his bombshell lawsuit against the liquor company Diageo after the parties reached a private agreement, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Diddy and Diageo released a joint statement that stated, “Sean Combs and Diageo have now agreed to resolve all disputes between them. Mr. Combs has withdrawn all of his allegations about Diageo and will voluntarily dismiss his lawsuits against Diageo with prejudice. Diageo and Mr. Combs have no ongoing business relationship, either with respect to Cîroc vodka or DeLeón tequila, which Diageo now solely owns.”
Back in May, Diddy’s company Combs Wine and Spirits sued liquor giant Diageo.
In the lawsuit, Diddy claimed he had a partnership with Diageo to handle marketing. He said he was so successful in building the Ciroc brand that Diageo asked him to work on a joint venture, DeLeon Tequila.
Diddy claimed Diageo failed to market and invest in DeLeon — and instead, put money into marketing Don Julio and Casamigos. Diddy believed the decision was racist.
The mogul claimed the liquor giant had failed to keep DeLon in stock at retailers.
The lawsuit , “Diageo has typecasted Ciroc and DeLeon, apparently deciding they are 'Black brands' that should be targeted only to 'urban' consumers."
Diddy claimed a Diageo exec suggested he would be getting more support if he was Martha Stewart. In addition, Diddy accused the company of developing a watermelon-flavored version of DeLeon despite his objections.
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Another exec allegedly told Diddy’s company that, “race was part of the reason Diageo limited the neighborhoods where the Combs brand were distributed.”
At the time, the musician claimed he planned to seek billions from Diageo for its alleged misconduct.
In response, the liquor company denied the accusations of wrongdoing. It claimed it had invested substantially in Ciroc and DeLeon.
Diageo claimed the accusations were “false and reckless.”
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The company accused Diddy of having, “asked to be paid millions of dollars more under threat of publicly accusing Diageo of racism.”
The company provided an alleged example of Diddy’s behavior.
The response said, “For example, in May 2021, following Diageo’s public commitment of $100 million to help with COVID recovery for the hospitality sector and underprivileged communities, Mr. Combs demanded that Diageo pay him $100 million and threatened then to ‘reach out to every news outlet’ to ‘burn the house down’ and cause maximum damage to Diageo and the DeLeón brand, by making public accusations racism if Diageo refused to write the check.”
Diddy’s lawyer told Rolling Stone about the claim, “Diageo claims its executives were available to hear all of Mr. Combs concerns about race and diversity issues. The sad truth is that they never truly listened to what Mr. Combs was saying and brushed them off as threats and demands for money. If they had actually taken the time to comprehend his concerns, and lived up to the agreements they signed, we wouldn’t be in court today."