There are relatively few Netflix documentaries \u2013 even in this increasingly sensationalized and prurient age \u2013 that have made anything like the splash that the new show about the artist formerly known as P. Diddy has caused.\u00a0Sean Combs: The Reckoning\u00a0isn\u2019t just hard to watch, but positively mind-blowing in its account of the imprisoned mogul\u2019s actions and predilections. Although he was acquitted of the most serious charges that he was on trial for this year, Combs will not be released from jail until May 2028. Given the number of allegations and civil suits pending against him, any comeback for the disgraced musician looks impossible \u2013 even in an era when Kanye West is, apparently, given second chance after second chance.<\/p>\n
The most chilling thing about\u00a0Sean Combs: The Reckoning\u00a0\u2013 and undoubtedly the cause of much of the controversy surrounding it \u2013 is that the show, directed by Alex Stapleton, has a level of access into its depraved subject that even those most opposed to the rapper\u2019s activities might find invasive. When footage of Combs\u2019s conversations with his lawyer and his son is broadcast, it is impossible not to have a sense that we \u2013 and the millions of other Netflix viewers \u2013 are eavesdropping in on a horribly private moment. Yet the counter argument to all this is that Combs\u2019s behavior was so extreme and so vile that he no longer deserves all the privacy that ordinary, law-abiding citizens merit.<\/p>\n
Most viewers will already have an idea of what the documentary will involve, and over its four hideously gripping episodes, the whole sordid shebang is rehearsed all over again: how Diddy went from being one of the music industry\u2019s most successful \u2013 if never-quite beloved \u2013 figures to sitting in solitary confinement in Fort Dix prison, where he will be residing for the next years; how he organized, choreographed and filmed degrading \u201cfreak offs\u201d that led to their participants being traumatized for years afterwards; and how his controlling, sexually aggressive persona \u2013 which may, or may not, have tipped over into criminality, as the split verdict at his trial tacitly suggested \u2013 caused him to make many enemies, even before he was accused of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
One of these enemies was none other than Curtis \u201c50 Cent\u201d Jackson<\/a>, who is a producer on the documentary, and so Combs\u2019s long-suffering and undoubtedly well-paid spokesman has gone on the offensive, saying that Jackson was \u201ca longtime adversary with a personal agenda.\u201d The flak has denounced the show\u2019s very existence, saying that \u201cNetflix is plainly desperate to sensationalize every minute of Mr. Combs\u2019s life, without regard for truth, in order to capitalize on a never-ending media frenzy. If Netflix<\/a> cared about truth or about Mr. Combs\u2019s legal rights, it would not be ripping private footage out of context \u2013 including conversations with his lawyers that were never intended for public viewing. No rights in that material were ever transferred to Netflix or any third party.\u201d<\/p>\n This may well be true, but as Combs said less than a week before his arrest, \u201cWe have to find somebody that will work with us, that has dealt in the dirtiest of dirty business of media and propaganda.\u201d The testimony expressed by many interviewees \u2013 or victims of \u2013 Combs is both graphic and disturbing. The singer Aubrey O\u2019Day recounts receiving an email from him that read \u201cI don\u2019t wanna just fuck you. I wanna turn you out. I can see you being with some motherfucker that you tell what to do. I make my woman do what I tell her to do, and she loves it.\u201d<\/p>\n This is of a piece with what Combs\u2019s ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura recounted in court, in shocking, even distressing testimony that made it clear that she had suffered at his hands, just as many others had.\u00a0Sean Combs: The Reckoning\u00a0may be gutter-level journalism, but that is what its subject merits. Many viewers will come to the end of this hard-to-watch but necessary show and wonder whether Combs should ever be released at all, let alone enjoy any kind of career redemption. And that, surely, is the reckoning he merits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are relatively few Netflix documentaries \u2013 even in this increasingly sensationalized and prurient age \u2013 that have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3940],"tags":[44200,4080,16337,11457,77,451,16902,2212,46290,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-629231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-50-cent","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-diddy","11":"tag-documentaries","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-netflix","14":"tag-rap","15":"tag-rape","16":"tag-sean-combs","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115709490239180918","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}