Spirits maker Diageo has cut ties with Sean “Diddy” Combs, ending a lucrative 15-year partnership that recently culminated in a racial discrimination lawsuit.

The music mogul charged that Diageo had neglected and underpromoted his DeLeón tequila, dismissing it as an “urban” product in its marketing, in a suit filed last month.

Diageo responded that he has “amassed nearly $1 billion dollars” from the partnership.

The London-based Diageo, which makes well-known liquor brands like Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whisky, countered that this was a “baseless complaint.” Diageo said Diddy’s “bad-faith actions have clearly breached his contracts and left us no choice but to… end our business relationship.”

Diageo and Combs have partnered on Ciroc vodka since 2007. In 2013, Combs bought DeLeón and formed a joint venture with Diageo for the high-end tequila.

cnn.com/2023/06/27/business/diddy-diageo-partnership-ends/index.html

I wonder if he gets a huge payout

#bransoncognac #lecheminduroi

Diddy said in the lawsuit that Diageo “kneecapped DeLeon’s sales growth for nearly a decade” because the company considered it a “Black” brand and marketed it to only “urban customers.” He also claimed that a Diageo executive told him that if Combs were Martha Stewart then “his brands would be more widespread.” Diageo has denied the accusations.

Diageo (DEO) said Tuesday that Diddy has “repeatedly undermined our partnerships and threatened to publicly defame Diageo (DEO) if we did not meet his unreasonable financial demands.” The company also said that they’ve invested more than $100 million to help grow his tequila and accused of him only contributing $1,000.

In response, Diddy’s attorney John Hueston said in a statement that Diageo “attempting to end its deals with Mr. Combs is like firing a whistleblower who calls out racism” and that the company’s decision is a “cynical and transparent attempt to distract from multiple allegations of discrimination.”

“This lawsuit and Mr. Combs are not going away,” Hueston said.

"In its response, Diageo blamed the problems on Mr Combs' "failure to fund the JV joint venture", which it said had "created a contentious relationship, severely damaged the DeLeon brand at a critical juncture, and stalled its promise and potential for growth for several years".

Diageo said it had agreed to forgive Mr Combs' debts during negotiations in 2020. Following a reset, sales volumes had doubled, it said.

"Despite DeLeon's recent growth and progress, and in disregard of multiple provisions of the DeLeon Agreement, earlier this year Combs again began to threaten Diageo with contrived racism allegations to force Diageo to accede to several outrageous and extra-contractual demands, including for supposed billions of dollars of damages."

^^^

If Diageo claims are true, he might have to pay them lol

We'll see what the court of law decides