Diddy Says Spirits Company Developed Watermelon-Flavored Tequila Against His Wishes
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Sean “Diddy” Combs claimed the alcohol giant Diageo regularly referred to his Ciroc vodka and DeLeon tequila as “urban brands,” and even developed a watermelon-flavored version of DeLeon over his objections, according to a new, unredacted version of Combs’ lawsuit against the liquor company.
When Combs filed the lawsuit back in May, he accused Diageo of “discriminatory treatment,” though a lot of the particulars were redacted. What was known, was that Combs believed Diageo had failed to invest resources into Ciroc and DeLeon, and only seemed interested in marketing them to “urban” consumers. Combs also claimed 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.”
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Diageo has denied the allegations and accused Combs of making “false and reckless allegations, including numerous defamatory and disparaging accusations of racism on the part of Diageo and certain of its senior executives.” In late June, Diageo ended its business relationship with Combs.
Now, specific details pertaining to Diageo’s alleged treatment of Ciroc and DeLeon, have come to light after New York State Supreme Court Judge Joel Cohen ruled that Diageo could only keep portions of the lawsuit secret.
Among the newly-unveiled claims in the lawsuit, obtained by Rolling Stone: Ciroc and DeLeon were regularly described as “urban brands” within the Diageo portfolio. And, despite Combs’ efforts to grow Cisco into a “billion-dollar brand that had widespread appeal,” an internal Diageo presentation still referred to the vodka as an “urban African American brand tied to one personality.”
Combs even claimed Diageo “proposed downplaying” his connection to Ciroc, “with the goal of rolling back its ‘image of being an African-American brand.’”
Furthermore, the original lawsuit included the claim that Combs frequently flagged “specific examples of matters that were racially insensitive, Diageo ignored him and, worse, repeated the same racially-charged example.” The example given (originally redacted) involved the alleged process that went into launching Ciroc’s watermelon flavor. Per the lawsuit, Combs told Diageo it needed to be “careful about ‘watermelon’ with a brand that it consistently characterized as an ‘urban African American brand.’”
Combs said Diageo gave him “assurances” it would proceed with caution, and he signed off on the new Ciroc flavor. However, Combs said Diageo ignored his request that “DeLeon should not launch any flavor until the public had learned more about the brand.”
But, Combs claimed, “Diageo showed up in person to Mr. Combs and his team with a developed watermelon-flavored DeLeon Tequila. They did this despite DeLeon not having flavored tequila, Mr. Combs’ consistent objection to adding flavors, and the efforts to educate Diageo about the racial history and connotations relating to watermelon.”
In a statement shared with Rolling Stone, a Diageo spokesperson said, “Mr. Combs supported, publicly endorsed for several years, and benefited financially from the success of Ciroc Summer Watermelon. His attempt to recast follow up discussions regarding innovations for DeLeon is, as is his entire suit, disingenuous and self-serving.”
The spokesperson added: “It is baffling to us that Mr. Combs is criticizing brand marketing and promotion for Ciroc and DeLeon — the very efforts he led. Under the Ciroc agreement, Mr. Combs was solely responsible for brand marketing, and his personally-owned media agency was the marketing agency of record for DeLeon.”
Elsewhere, there are new details regarding the alleged “systematized neglect” Diageo showed Ciroc and DeLeon. For instance, Combs said amidst a 2020 agave shortage, Diageo “brazenly snubbed” the brand by “allocating its existing supply of agave to competing tequila brands, forcing DeLeon to scramble to source agave from the spot market at significantly higher costs.” Combs also said that in 2019, a “clerical mistake” on Diageo’s end led the Mexican government to “impound a critical shipment of DeLeon Tequila at the border.”
In response to these instances and others, the lawsuit now reveals that Combs and Diageo signed a 2021 agreement that included an “Equal Treatment” provision. The provision, per the lawsuit, was meant to “address the root cause of Diageo’s misconduct and to ensure that Diageo could not treat other brands better than it treated DeLeon Tequila.” Combs has claimed that Diageo failed to meet that provisio and asked the judge to enforce it as one of the causes for action in the lawsuit.
This story was updated at 2:07 p.m. ET with a statement from a Diageo spokesperson.
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