Over the last year, Sean “Diddy” Combs has spent a lot of time in courtrooms, and 2026 is looking to be more of the same. The rapper and mogul’s trial, which ended in conviction on two counts of violating the Mann Act, took up a large part of 2025. While his legal team is already working on appeals of those convictions, it’s also reportedly contemplating a lawsuit against the producers of one of the many Diddy documentaries that sprang up in the wake of his arrest and trial.
There have been several documentaries about Diddy over the last few months, but the most recent, and arguably one of the most controversial, has been Sean Combs: The Reckoning, which is currently available with a Netflix subscription. The series was produced by 50 Cent, who already has a well-known history with Diddy. Now, a spokesman for Diddy’s legal team tells Deadline that a lawsuit over the doc is at least being considered. The statement said…
Sean Combs and his team are still pondering their legal options over the Netflix docuseries and the stolen footage.
The issue at hand stems from specific video footage featured in the documentary, which shows Diddy in a hotel room yelling at his lawyers. According to Diddy’s team, the footage in question was illegally obtained. Prior to the documentary’s release, a cease and desist letter was sent to Netflix, which accused the film of using stolen footage and threatened legal action if the series was released. It also accused Netflix and producer 50 Cent of only producing the documentary because both had a previous beef with Diddy.
Certainly, if the footage was stolen, then it would seem Diddy at least has a case. That said, Netflix has responded that it obtained the footage in question legally, so if a lawsuit is brought, it will likely be contested.
Of course, even if Diddy’s side feels it has a strong legal case, there are reasons the lawyers might decide not to proceed with a lawsuit. It may all come down to the status of the appeal of Diddy’s conviction. If there ends up being another trial on the two counts that the rapper was convicted on, it could be decided that the focus of all the legal energy (and money) should go there.
On top of the potential appeal, there is also a long list of lawsuits that have been filed against Diddy. While some of those have already been settled or otherwise ended, and many likely will never see a courtroom, each one will still need to be dealt with, requiring hours of work from lawyers. The one thing Diddy can probably be sure of in 2026 is that he’ll be continuing to work with his lawyers very closely.
