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pirits big Diageo has confirmed it’s ending its relationship with Sean “Diddy” Combs, after the US rapper launched authorized motion in opposition to the UK-based agency and accused it of racism.
The drinks big, which owns manufacturers comparable to Guinness and Tanqueray, introduced the transfer in a court docket submitting within the US on Tuesday.
Last month Mr Combs’s enterprise started authorized motion claiming that the DeLeon tequila model co-owned by the 2 teams, and Ciroc vodka model, which is owned by Diageo however has collaborated with Mr Combs, had been typecast as “black brands”.
His authorized submitting stated: “Rather than equal treatment, Diageo has treated Mr Combs and his brands worse than others because he is black.
“Diageo has typecast Ciroc and DeLeon, apparently deciding they are ‘black brands’ that should be targeted only to ‘urban’ consumers.”
Combs Wines and Spirits stated its drinks manufacturers had been “starved” of manufacturing, distribution and gross sales sources in contrast with others, comparable to Casamigos tequila, which Diageo purchased from George Clooney in 2017.
On Tuesday, Diageo filed its personal authorized continuing by which it claimed it “tried for years to salvage the broken relationship” with the musician, producer and entrepreneur.
A spokeswoman for the spirits agency stated: “Mr Combs’s bad-faith actions have clearly breached his contracts and left us no choice but to move to dismiss his baseless complaint and end our business relationship.
“Mr Combs has repeatedly undermined our partnerships and threatened to publicly defame Diageo if we did not meet his unreasonable financial demands.
“We funded the purchase of DeLeon for the joint venture and proceeded to invest more than 100 million dollars (£78 million) to grow the brand.
“Despite having made nearly a billion dollars over the course of our 15-year relationship, Mr Combs contributed a total of 1,000 dollars and refused to honour his commitments.
“We have exhausted every reasonable remedy and see no other path forward.”
