Diddy ordered to pay NBC $478,000 after failed defamation suit
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been ordered to pay NBCUniversal $478,000 to cover its legal bills after his failed $100 million defamation lawsuit. New York Supreme Court Judge Phaedra F. Perry-Bond issued the order on Oct. 6. Billboard
The award is less than half the sum NBCUniversal pursued. The company sought $990,000 for work by law firm Gibson Dunn. The judge trimmed $512,000 as excessive, leaving $478,000 to be paid by Combs.
Combs sued NBC in early 2025 over The Making of a Bad Boy, a 2025 documentary released on Peacock. The claim sought $100 million in damages. He alleged the film advanced a false narrative that he was involved in the deaths of The Notorious B.I.G. and Kim Porter.
Judge Perry-Bond dismissed the case in April. She ruled the claim lacked merit and threw it out under New York’s anti-SLAPP statute. That law allows courts to dismiss weak lawsuits over matters of public concern at an early stage and order the losing side to pay legal costs.
The fee dispute turned on time and rates. Gibson Dunn assigned six lawyers to defend NBCUniversal. Their hourly rates ranged from $915 to $1,980. The court found parts of the bill too high and cut it back sharply.
Court records identify the case as Sean Combs v. NBCUniversal Media et al., with the dismissal decision designated 2026 NY Slip Op. 31757(U). That code is the court’s formal tag for the written ruling. It sits alongside the April dismissal order that ended the $100 million claim.
A separate dispute over representation has also surfaced. Combs’s civil lawyer has told the court that fees have gone unpaid for more than six months and that Combs failed to cooperate in the defamation case. The lawyer asked for permission to withdraw. ABC7 News
What makes this stand out is the size of the cut. NBCUniversal keeps a substantial payment, but the court rejected more than half of what it requested. The ruling fixes the final figure at $478,000, not $990,000. It closes the costs dispute that followed the dismissal.
Payment is now owed to NBCUniversal. The underlying defamation claim remains dismissed.
