Alcohol Brand Cuts Ties With Diddy, Accuse Mogul Of Filing 'False and Reckless' Lawsuit Over Alleged Racism
June 27 2023, Published 6:06 p.m. ET
Rapper and business mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, 53, was accused of filing a "false and reckless" lawsuit against a major alcohol label he claimed was racist toward his tequila brand, RadarOnline.com has learned. Lawyers for alcohol label Diageo urged a judge to throw out Diddy's lawsuit against the brand accused of racism.
Diageo's attorneys claimed the allegations were nothing more than an attempt to "extract additional billions" from the brand.
Combs sued Diageo for a breach of contract on May 31. At the time, the 53-year-old's liquor company, DeLeon Tequila, had a partnership deal with Diageo.
According to Billboard, court documents filed by Combs' legal team not only alleged that Diageo failed to support DeLeon Tequila but claimed the brand showed biased towards his tequila line and treated him "worse than others because he is Black."
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On Tuesday, Diageo's attorneys fired back at Combs and branded his lawsuit a "bad faith, sham action."
Diageo claimed the business mogul had already "amassed nearly one billion dollars" off the partnership, alleging his legal action was "opportunistic."
"These allegations are nothing more than opportunistic attempts to garner press attention and distract the court from the fact that plaintiff’s breach-of-contract claim is entirely without merit," Diageo attorneys wrote in a statement. "Diageo categorically denies these accusations."
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The Diageo legal team's response was echoed by a statement from a company spokesperson, who also slammed Combs for attempting to make a few extra bucks off the deal.
"Mr. Combs’ bad-faith actions have clearly breached his contracts and left us no choice but to move to dismiss his baseless complaint and end our business relationship," the spokesperson said. "Mr. Combs has repeatedly undermined our partnerships and threatened to publicly defame Diageo if we did not meet his unreasonable financial demands."
Diddy's original filing claimed DeLeon Tequila was the victim of a "typecast" by Diageo, who saw the liquor as a "Black brand" that was restricted to an "urban" consumer demographic.
"Cloaking itself in the language of diversity and equality is good for Diageo’s business, but it is a lie," Comb's attorneys wrote in the filing. "While Diageo may conspicuously include images of its Black partners in advertising materials and press releases, its words only provide the illusion of inclusion."