Diddy Sues Spirits Giant Diageo for Racial Discrimination, Lackluster Treatment of his DeLeon Tequila in Comparison to George Clooney’s Casamigos

American rapper Diddy (Sean Combs) arrives at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 15, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. (Photo by Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

Billionaire business mogul and musician Diddy is squaring off against British alcohol company Diageo in a new lawsuit alleging mismanagement and racism.

Diddy, real name Sean Combs, filed the lawsuit on Wednesday morning in the New York State Supreme Court. Combs accuses Diageo of neglecting his tequila brand DeLeon, saying that they chose to pour resources into brands like George Clooney’s Casamigos and Don Julio at the expense of his investment.

Combs first teamed up with Diageo back in 2007 as an equal-parts owner of Cîroc Vodka. Following the brand’s runaway success, Combs doubled down and inked a similar co-ownership deal for DeLeon Tequila in 2013.

Since then, Combs alleges that Diageo refused to properly market or invest in DeLeon. Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that Diddy-owned alcohol brands have been racially stereotyped, stating; “Diageo has typecasted Cîroc and DeLeon, apparently deciding they are ‘Black brands’ that should be targeted only to ‘urban’ consumers.”

In court filings, Combs accuses Diageo of mismanaging virtually every aspect of the business — product stock, distribution, redesigns, and even the agave itself. Combs is now seeking a court injunction that would compel Diageo to honor the terms of their initial 2013 joint-venture agreement.

Diageo-owned Casamigos was the best-selling celebrity spirit of 2022 by a huge margin. (Photo: Casamigos)

Whether or not they admit it, Diageo has clearly pushed all its chips onto profitable investments like Casamigos and Don Julio over the past few years.  Casamigos currently represents 12.6% of all tequila sales in U.S. retail stores while Don Julio represents 12.1%. DeLeon makes up only 0.4%.

In the absence of corporate support, Combs has gone to great lengths to self-promote his alcohol products over the past few years.

Last Halloween, he grabbed headlines with a bizarre Joker flamethrower stunt in which he “declared war” on all rival tequilas. He would eventually sneak a few bottles of DeLeon and Cîroc into his Uber Eats Super Bowl ad.

Earlier this month he debuted Diddy Direct, an e-commerce alcohol website oriented exclusively around Cîroc and DeLeon. In hindsight, Diddy Direct was almost certainly launched in anticipation of this new lawsuit.

All of that being said, the legal feud with Diageo is only a drop in the bucket for Combs’ vast business empire.

In addition to Combs Spirits, Diddy owns Bad Boy Entertainment, bottled water supplier AQUAhydrate, fashion brand Sean John, cannabis producer Cresco Labs and even a line of charter schools.

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