Judge Dismisses Diddy’s Defamation Lawsuit Against NBC

Photo Credit: Sean “Diddy” Combs by Richard Burdett / CC by 3.0

A judge has dismissed Diddy’s $100 million defamation lawsuit against NBC over its “Bad Boy” documentary after the rap mogul admitted in court that he ruined his own career.

A New York judge has dismissed Sean “Diddy” Combs’ $100 million defamation lawsuit against NBC and Peacock over the 2025 documentary, Diddy: Making of a Bad Boy. The move comes after the network argued that the disgraced music mogul admitted in court that he was responsible for ruining his own career, which occurred well before the documentary first aired.

New York Supreme Court Judge Phaedra F. Perry-Bond ruled that the case brought by Combs should be dismissed. Combs was indicted in September 2024 on racketeering and sex trafficking charges, and is now serving a 50-month federal prison sentence in New Jersey. His sentence arrived three months after a lengthy trial in New York last summer that ended in a split verdict.

“This is an important ruling that protects filmmakers and journalists by dismissing this meritless complaint, as barred by New York law and the First Amendment,” said Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., an attorney representing NBC.

Combs’ complaint was filed in February last year and alleged that the documentary portrays him as guilty of “serial murder, sexual assault and trafficking of minors, and extortion—knowing that there is not a shred of evidence to support them.” The filing also cited an interview with producer Ari Mark as evidence that the network rushed to get the documentary on the platform while the legal issues surrounding Combs were hot off the presses.

But Combs’ own words during his October sentencing put the nail in the coffin on his defamation suit. NBC’s motion to dismiss centered around damage to his reputation that he claimed was caused by the documentary.

“Because of my decisions, I lost my freedom,” Combs told the judge. “I lost my career. I totally destroyed my reputation.”

NBC asserted that such an admission of guilt negates Combs’ claims that the documentary was what caused him irreparable reputational harm. Further, Judge Perry-Bond agreed with the network’s assessment and noted that the “carefully curated and nuanced [documentary] discloses interviewees’ biases and includes counterstatements to the allegedly defamatory statements.”