Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s row with Diageo deepens as court unseals business details
Combs’s lawsuit against Diageo was filed in May but many details, including a 2021 agreement, were redacted at the time.
Sean “Diddy” Combs is asking the New York Supreme Court to enforce a 2021 agreement requiring spirits seller Diageo to treat his DeLeon tequila brand “at least as favourably” as its other tequila brands.
The rapper, producer and entrepreneur signed an agreement with Diageo – which owns more than 200 brands including Guinness beer and Tanqueray gin – after what he says were years of neglect for DeLeon, a brand he established with the London firm in 2013.
Combs’s lawsuit against Diageo was filed in May but many details, including the 2021 agreement, were redacted at the time.
On Wednesday, those details were released after Judge Joel Cohen ruled that Diageo could keep only limited portions confidential.
Combs, who is black, says Diageo positioned his tequila as an inferior “urban” brand and limited its distribution.
Diageo has denied Combs’s accusations.
In late June, it asked the court to compel arbitration or dismiss the suit.
It has also terminated its partnership with Combs for Ciroc vodka, a brand he had promoted since 2007.
The newly public documents detail what Combs says was Diageo’s repeated disinvestment in DeLeon.
As of last year, DeLeon was distributed in 3% of possible outlets, for example, while Don Julio was in 36%.
In 2021, Combs said he was told all of Diageo’s agave plants were allocated to other brands, forcing DeLeon to scramble to find suppliers in the more expensive spot market.
Combs says Diageo also made unilateral decisions that harmed the brand, including discontinuing popular 375ml “half bottles” and launching a redesigned bottle with no marketing support.
Combs claims Diageo’s decisions were often tinged with racism.
He says he was adamant that DeLeon not offer flavoured versions until customers had more time to learn about the brand.
But Diageo went ahead and developed a watermelon flavour – even though Combs had previously warned the company to be careful about the racist history and negative connotations with watermelon in brands aimed at black consumers.
“His attempt to recast follow-up discussions regarding innovations for DeLeon is, as is his entire suit, disingenuous and self-serving,” Diageo said on Wednesday in a statement.
In his lawsuit, Combs said he only signed on to promote Ciroc Summer Watermelon after educating the company about watermelon and getting assurances from Diageo that it would be sensitive to any negative connotations.
Combs also differentiated Ciroc — which has more than a dozen flavours — from DeLeon, which would have introduced watermelon as its first flavour.
Combs says internal Diageo documents also proposed downplaying Ciroc’s connection to Combs with the goal of rolling back its “image of being an African-American brand”.
In its own court filings, Diageo accuses Combs of resorting to “false and reckless” allegations in an effort to extract monetary damages.
Diageo also says sales of DeLeon have doubled since the 2021 agreement.
