50 Cent on Impact of Diddy’s Diageo Dispute: 'Don’t Think That the Civil Case Doesn’t Turn Into a Criminal Case Faster'
"The spirits business, it’s not governed," 50 said during an Invest Fest conversation in August before Diddy was arrested.
50 Cent is again speaking out about Diddy, this time in connection with his since-settled legal dispute with spirits company Diageo.
During a nearly hour-long conversation as part of Invest Fest, as seen in the Earn Your Leisure-shared video below, 50 was asked about general “access to capital” concerns about 20 minutes into the talk. Notably, the conversation was recorded in August, i.e. prior to Diddy's arrest.
This led to a mention of 50’s Branson Cognac and Le Chemin Du Roi, with the G-Unit Film & Television founder stating that he owns his entire Sire Spirits company.
Asked about the challenges he faced in the alcohol industry prior to arriving at the position he now finds himself in, 50 brought up Beam Suntory, with whom he’s had well-documented issues.
“My particular experience with Beam Suntory, it was great in the beginning,” 50 said. “It’s great for us to work for them. It is not so cool when you start to own things. So I made a lot of money with them too, like there’s a point they did a deal that mirrored what Puff’s deal with Diageo was for Cîroc. So he didn’t have ownership of that at any point but he was getting a lot of money, like almost $60 million a year at one point.”
50 continued, “So when you see him go to DeLeón is when you see him have some issues. It gets bad. These people have really strong relationships. Don’t think that the civil case doesn’t turn into a criminal case faster because he’s making them uncomfortable. That’s a big part of it. The spirits business, it’s not governed.”
From there, 50 looked back on allegedly being ripped off at one point in his alcohol brand journey, pointing to “agency fees” and claiming he had around six million “siphoned off” from him.
While 50 has prolifically mocked and criticized Diddy over the past year in connection with his mounting legal issues, not to mention the wave of abuse allegations, he did speak somewhat defensively about his frequent target of ire earlier this year. In June, as previously reported, 50 spoke on the Diageo issue and compared it to his own Suntory disagreements.
“Puffy made Diageo a lot of money with Cîroc,” 50 said at the time. “They were fine with that because he didn’t own anything. Soon as he owns DeLeón, their relationship can’t work.”
In January, a settlement between Diddy and Diageo made headlines, with a statement released at the time stating that Diddy was withdrawing “all of his allegations” against the company.
“Diageo and Mr. Combs have no ongoing business relationship, either with respect to Cîroc vodka or DeLeón tequila, which Diageo now solely owns,” reads a joint statement.
Diddy had made several accusations about the company’s handling of such products, with the company calling allegations of racism “false and reckless,” per the Associated Press.
The Bad Boy Records founder, who remains in custody as of this writing following his arrest in New York on a trafficking and racketeering indictment, was accused of rape and abuse in a civil suit from former romantic partner Cassie in November. The suit was quickly settled, though additional lawsuits and similar allegations from separate parties followed. In May of this year, hotel surveillance footage surfaced showing Diddy physically assaulting Cassie in 2016. Diddy issued a video apology after the footage's public release.
As for the trafficking and racketeering indictment, Diddy has pleaded not guilty. Marc Agnifilo, an attorney for Diddy, said in a statement earlier this week that his client is “an imperfect person” but “not a criminal.”
