Diddy claims Diageo dismissed his vodka as black brand with hip hop ties

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Beverage giant Diageo allegedly dismissed the line of vodka it promoted alongside rapper Sean Combs as an “urban African American brand tied to one personality” and had little interest in promoting the liquor to a broader market, according to legal filings.

Newly unredacted portions of a complaint alleging racial discrimination, originally filed by the artist, known as Diddy, in May, allege the alcoholic beverages conglomerate also described the Cîroc vodka brand as having “strong hip hop associations”. Combs contends that Diageo deliberately underinvested in the line of vodkas and marketed them mainly to black consumers.

The 53-year-old also alleged the drinks maker pushed ahead with the launch of a watermelon flavour of DeLeón Tequila, another jointly owned brand, despite Combs’ “efforts to educate Diageo about the racial history and connotations relating to watermelon”. For decades, racist caricatures in the US and Europe have associated African-Americans with the fruit.

Diageo, which parted company with Combs on June 27, said: “Combs supported, publicly endorsed for several years, and benefited financially from the success of Cîroc Summer Watermelon. His attempt to recast follow-up discussions regarding innovations for DeLeón is, as is his entire suit, disingenuous and self-serving.”

Diageo added that it was “baffling” that Combs was criticising the marketing of Cîroc and DeLeón because he was “solely responsible for brand marketing, and his personally-owned media agency was the marketing agency of record” for the tequila line.

The conglomerate has previously “categorically” denied Combs’ allegations, which it said included “numerous defamatory and disparaging accusations of racism on the part of Diageo and certain of its senior executives”.

Diageo and the Grammy-winning Combs first joined forces in 2007 when the company hired him to promote its flailing Cîroc vodka brand. The two sides entered a joint venture in 2013 to buy the much-hyped DeLeón Tequila, limited edition shots of which were being sold for $90 each. 

But Combs said his drinks brands had been “starved” of production, distribution and sales resources at the expense of others, such as Casamigos tequila. Actor George Clooney sold that brand to Diageo in 2017 for up to $1bn.

In Wednesday’s unredacted filing, Combs’ lawyers further alleged that amid a shortage in 2020, Diageo allocated its supply of the crucial ingredient agave to competing tequila labels, “forcing DeLeón to scramble to source agave from the spot market at significantly higher costs”.

They also claimed a clerical error by Diageo led to some tequila being impounded by Mexican authorities, restricting the supply of Combs’ brand.

In the original filing in New York in May, Combs had alleged Diageo executive Stephen Rust told him in late 2019 that “if he were Martha Stewart his brands would be more widespread”.