Liquor giant Diageo settled its legal battle with Sean “Diddy” Combs seven months after the rapper accused the company of racist tactics that underinvesting in his spirits.
“Sean Combs and Diageo have now agreed to resolve all disputes between them,” Diageo said in a press release issued Tuesday.
“Mr. Combs has withdrawn all of his allegations about Diageo and will voluntarily dismiss his lawsuits against Diageo with prejudice. Diageo and Mr. Combs have no ongoing business relationship, either with respect to Ciroc Vodka or DeLeón Tequila, which Diageo now solely owns,” the London-based company and Combs added in a joint statement shared with The Post.
No financial terms of the settlement were disclosed.
The settlement comes after Combs scored an early win after a Supreme Court of New York judge denied Diageo’s motion to dismiss his claims of racism in the promotion and distribution of his Diageo-backed liquor labels, Ciroc Vodka and DeLeón Tequila.
Combs had also claimed in his May 2023 lawsuit that Diageo underinvested in his brands, while it “invested more than $1 billion to acquire and grow” George Clooney’s Casamigos tequila brand, the complaint pointed out.
Shares of Diageo — which also owns Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, Smirnoff and Guinness — were down roughly 1% Tuesday afternoon following the news of the settlement.
While Combs, whose net worth is estimated at $1 billion, resolved his legal battle with Diageo, he faces a slew of sexual assault allegations.
Last month, the rapper was hit with a fourth suit, which accused him and two others of gang-raping a 17-year-old girl at his New York recording studio after flying her to the city and plying her with drugs and alcohol two decades ago.
The woman — who filed suit anonymously in Manhattan federal court in early December as a Jane Doe — claims she was in 11th grade when she was raped by Combs and Harve Pierre, the longtime president of his record label Bad Boys, and a third, unidentified person in 2003.
The month prior, another disturbing lawsuit filed by Combs’ ex, singer Cassie — born Casandra Ventura — accused 54-year-old “Diddy” of forcing himself into her home and raping her toward the end of their long-term relationship in 2018.
In the complaint, Cassie described her former lover as “prone to uncontrollable rage,” and said he “frequently beat Ms. Ventura savagely.”
Combs settled the case within 24 hours but insisted the settlement wasn’t an admission of guilt.
More women came forward with their accusations, including Joi Dickerson-Neal, who claimed in a separate legal filing that Combs sexually assaulted her after a dinner date at Wells restaurant in Harlem in 1991 and filmed it.
His rep said the suit was not credible and was a money grab.
A third suit claimed Combs and singer Aaron Hall took turns raping her and a friend in the early 1990s. Combs’ rep said this accusation, too, was the result of Combs’ fame and success.
Combs, 54, has seven children: Quincy, 32; Justin, 29; Christian, 25; Chance, 17; twins D’Lila and Jessie, 16; and Love, 1.
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Last month, the “Bad Boy For Life” rapper issued a statement through his rep, which began with: “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.”
“For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy,” the statement said. “Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday.”
“Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth,” the statement concluded.
Following the sexual assault allegations, Hulu scrapped the reality show following Combs’ life it planned to develop under the working title “Diddy+7.”
This story originally appeared on NYPost
