Though Stapleton wouldn’t directly address the ongoing disagreement during our conversation, she does say that when she started work on the series, “I never, in a million years, thought that [footage] was going to fall into my lap.” Instead, she prepared a treatment that explored the allegations against Combs chronologically, from rumors around his alleged role in the slayings of Tupac Shakur and Christopher George Latore Wallace, better known as The Notorious B.I.G., to multiple allegations of sexual assault. (Combs has denied any responsibility in the deaths of Shakur and Wallace, and has never been charged in those cases. He also has denied all allegations of sexual assault.)
As opposed to being a Jinx-like self-indictment, the found footage helps to illustrate how Combs approached the increasing tide of accusations, and how seriously—or not—he took them. At times, he can be seen performing as if he’s on a reality show; at other points, it appears he’s forgotten the cameras are there. “Those are things that I think you have to see in order to understand the type of person that you’re dealing with,” Stapleton says. “There’s intention behind how he moves. And in his defense, there should be, if you have your life on the line at that level.”
Toward the series’s end, we are reminded that in criminal court, Combs has been convicted of only two prostitution-related offenses, and was acquitted of the most serious charges against him. Jurors in the New York case “didn’t necessarily think that he was a good guy,” Stapleton says, “but they couldn’t connect the dots” when it came to more consequential criminal behavior. He remains incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Fort Dix, New Jersey, serving a 50-month sentence. His anticipated release date is June 4, 2028.
At present, Combs also faces over 70 civil claims, some of which may stretch back to the 56-year-old’s days as a student at Howard University. But though Stapleton left a massive amount of footage on the cutting room floor, she seems reluctant about returning for a possible The Reckoning 2. “I would have no interest in doing it for gratuitous reasons, or to feed the appetite of people wanting more,” she says. The documentarian is already gearing up to premiere her next project, The Brittney Griner Story, at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
That said, Stapleton does believe that Combs will continue to provide fodder for reporters and documentarians for years to come. “I definitely think this is the beginning. He has dozens upon dozens upon dozens upon dozens of civil suits to get through. We’ll see how this all continues to take shape.”
