Sean Combs’ name may come up at the Primetime Emmys this year, though not in the manner he’d like. Almost 20 years after his nomination as part of the producing team on A Raisin in the Sun, a documentary series with his name in the title – Sean Combs: The Reckoning — is in contention for television’s highest honor.
The Netflix series directed by Alexandria Stapleton shines a harsh glare onto the sexual misconduct allegations that took Combs from the top of the music business to the interior of a prison cell. The four-parter includes in-depth interviews with people close to Combs, from childhood friends to business associates, as well as Joi Dickerson-Neal, who accused the rapper-actor-mogul of drugging and raping her in the 1990s.
Stapleton joins the latest edition of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast to discuss her series, revealing how she obtained remarkable footage of Combs recorded just weeks before he was indicted on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges. It shows him in a hotel room in conversation with his lawyer strategizing on how to counteract the negative narrative about Combs that was overtaking public discourse.
Stapleton also shares the inside story of collaborating on the series with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, the longtime “P. Diddy” nemesis who serves as executive producer of Sean Combs: The Reckoning. And the filmmaker explores how she took The Reckoning beyond what she describes as legacy media’s two-dimensional portrayals of the Combs scandal that were slathered “in baby oil.”
Combs is expected to be released from federal prison in about two years’ time, after he concludes his sentence for a conviction on prostitution-related counts (a jury acquitted him of more serious charges). Stapleton tells us what she thinks will become of Combs once he gets out of prison.
That’s on the new episode of Doc Talk hosted by John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Shirley) and Matt Carey, Deadline’s senior documentary editor. The pod is a production of Deadline and Ridley’s Nō Studios.
Listen to the episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple.s here
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