TOPLINE
Rapper 50 Cent, frequent foe of hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, renewed his long-running feud with the rapper Saturday, re-posting a statement from Los Angeles Officials condemning a 2016 surveillance video appearing to show Combs attack his former girlfriend.
Video footage appeared to show Sean “Diddy” Combs attacking his former girlfriend in a hotel in … [+]
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50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson III, responded to a post from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office on X Saturday morning, saying: “This is why they put out that tape out, they know they can’t charge him with what we saw, but they know we can’t [unsee] what we saw.”
The DA’s office condemned the video—appearing to show Combs dragging down and kicking former girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016—though the office said it is “unable” to bring charges because the apparent attack took place “beyond the timeline where a crime of assault can be prosecuted.”
50 Cent took another jab at Combs for a statement Combs released when he said he has “sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy,” responding the statement gave off “Maury vibes,” in reference to the salacious talk show “Maury,” with 50 Cent adding: “The lie detector test has determined this was a lie.”
Earlier this month, Combs’ son King Combs released a new track “Pick A Side,” defending his father and dissing 50 Cent, rapping “pops been hated on many men,” and daring people to say “no Diddy,” referencing a line used by 50 Cent to diss Combs.
After the track’s release, 50 Cent again turned to X, reposting screenshots of the track and saying he does not “understand why they want to drug women.”
50 Cent was also quick to shoot back at Combs after federal Homeland Security Investigations agents raided Combs’ Los Angeles and Miami homes in March, tweeting: “Now it’s not Diddy do it, it’s Diddy done 🤷🏽♂️they don’t come like that unless they got a case.”
The raids were reportedly conducted as part of a federal 𝓈ℯ𝓍 trafficking investigation out of the Southern District of New York, multiple news outlets reported.
Combs has denied wrongdoing and his attorney Aaron Dyer called the raids an “unprecedented ambush” as part of “nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations”—Dyer also claimed Combs is cooperating with authorities.
50 Cent made several posts on Instagram following the raid, including several memes mocking Diddy and two posts dragging rapper Jay-Z into the drama, with one post questioning Jay-Z’s alleged silence and another in which he joked Jay-Z is “waving at puffy jet.”
50 Cent a reportedly posted a now-deleted picture of the raids on Diddy’s homes, stating: “Sh*t just got real the Fed’s in all the cribs.”
50 Cent also repeatedly targeted Combs on social media after he faced a wave of 𝓈ℯ𝓍ual assault lawsuits between November and March.
In a 2006 diss track titled “The Bomb,” 50 Cent alleged Combs knew who shot the Notorious B.I.G., the rapper who was 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed in a drive-by shooting at the age of 24 in 1997. Combs was reportedly with the late rapper the night of the shooting, but was in another vehicle. 50 Cent has since accused Combs of continuing to profit off the name of the Notorious B.I.G., who was signed to Combs’ Bad Boy Records label, through posthumous releases and sampling the late rapper’s material in his own songs. 50 Cent has also insinuated on multiple occasions, including as recently as December, that Combs was involved with the 1997 murder of Tupac Shakur. Authorities have not accused Combs of wrongdoing regarding Tupac and the rapper called the insinuations “nonsense” in a 2016 interview. He has also made comments about Combs’ 𝓈ℯ𝓍uality on numerous occasions, calling him “fruity” in a 2018 interview, pointing to an instance in which Combs asked 50 Cent to go shopping (which Combs said in an interview was because he thought 50 Cent “needed some clothes”). 50 Cent also claimed he doesn’t go to Combs’ parties because he’d “hug you from the front and the back at the same time.” 50 Cent also trolled Combs over their competing vodka brands in 2015, repeatedly tweeting the hashtag #nopuffyjuice to deride Combs’ Ciroc company.
In December, 50 Cent announced his production company, G-Unit Film & Television, would produce a documentary about the 𝓈ℯ𝓍ual assault allegations levied against Combs, and proceeds would be donated to victims of 𝓈ℯ𝓍ual assault. 50 Cent posted an image that appears to be a promotional poster for a documentary titled “Diddy Do It?” on Instagram in March, causing a spike in search for the title, though the poster’s artist Kode Abdo confirmed to Forbes it is not a poster for a real show.
Combs has been sued numerous times since November, when singer Casandra Ventura, known professionally as Cassie, sued Combs, alleging the rapper raped her in 2018 and had physically abused her for years while they were in a relationship. They settled the lawsuit later that month for an undisclosed amount, though Combs’ lawyers said the settlement was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing.” Also in November, plaintiff Joie Dickerson-Neal sued Combs, alleging he drugged and 𝓈ℯ𝓍ually assaulted her in 1991 and that he had filmed the incident. An anonymous plaintiff additionally sued Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall in November, alleging they raped her and a friend in 1990 or 1991. Another anonymous plaintiff sued Combs in December, accusing him of participating in a gang rape of the plaintiff while she was 17 in 2003. Music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones sued Combs in February, alleging unwanted 𝓈ℯ𝓍ual advances by associates of Combs and that Combs held “𝓈ℯ𝓍-trafficking parties.”
CONTRA
Combs has consistently denied all allegations made in the various lawsuits filed against him. In March, Combs’ lawyer Aaron Dyer released a statement accusing federal agents of exhibiting an “excessive show of force and hostility” in the raids. Dyer clarified the rapper was not detained by authorities and condemned the raids as contributing to a “rush to judgment” against the rapper.
