that he and his vodka and tequila brands were mistreated and discriminated against. Rather, Diageo claims it consistently provided support to Combs’ brands, Ciroc and DeLeón, and that Combs “asked to be paid millions of dollars more under threat of publicly accusing Diageo of racism.”
Combs sued Diageo back in May, accusing the company of failing to invest resources into Ciroc and DeLeón and treating them as “urban” products. Further allegations emerged in July when an: For instance, Combs claimed Diageo developed a watermelon-flavored version of DeLeón over his objections and that Diageo’s President of Reserve and New Business Stephen Rust admitted to him that “race was part of the reason Diageo limited the neighborhoods where the Combs brand were distributed.
Diageo called the claims “false and reckless” at the time and continued to say as much in their new filing. The liquor company insisted it has “disproportionately supported and grown the DeLeón brandCombs Parties’ repeated failures to live up to their own commitments.” They also said, “Combs has focused on one thing only: his own self-enrichment.”
To that end, Diageo accused Combs of repeatedly seeking lucrative payouts while threatening to go public with accusations of racism against the company. “For example, in May 2021, following Diageo’s public commitment of $100 million to help with COVID recovery for the hospitality sector and underprivileged communities, Mr.