Videographer Breaks Silence on How Netflix Obtained His Footage for Sean Combs Documentary

The videographer behind never-before-seen footage of Sean “Diddy” Combs featured in a new Netflix documentary says he did not release the material. He claims it was obtained after a freelancer temporarily filled in for him.

Sean Combs: The Reckoning, which debuted this month and quickly reached the top of Netflix’s charts, includes intimate behind-the-scenes footage of the music mogul in the days leading up to his arrest on sex-trafficking charges in September 2024. Directed by Alexandria Stapleton and produced by 50 Cent, the four-part series opens with scenes showing the mogul in a Manhattan hotel room preparing to “fight for my life.”

The filmmakers say the footage was shot by a videographer Combs hired during his final days before his arrest. Several reports had claimed that the videographer, whose identity the documentary team initially sought to keep confidential, was never paid after Combs was taken into custody.

However, Michael Oberlies, the videographer responsible for the footage, has now come out and publicly addressed how the material came to be used in the documentary. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Oberlies disputes online speculation that the footage was released due to a fee dispute or contract issue and says the filmmakers obtained it after he hired a freelancer to cover for him briefly.

“For over two years, we have been working on a project profiling Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs,” Oberlies tells Rolling Stone. “The footage in question was not released by me or anyone authorized to handle Sean Combs’ materials; it was by a third party who covered for me for three days while I was out of state.”

In a further statement, Oberlies, who says he has worked with Combs since 2019, claims that the release of the footage in the Netflix documentary had nothing to do with payment or contractual disagreements.

“This incident had nothing to do with any fee dispute or contract issue,” the videographer says. “The actions of the parties involved reflect the lack of integrity every storyteller should uphold. Taking footage intended for our project to advance a narrative that was not our own is both unethical and unacceptable.”

Questions about how Netflix obtained the videographer’s footage have been a central point of discussion surrounding the documentary since its release. Director Stapleton says the filmmakers acquired the material lawfully.

“It came to us, we obtained the footage legally, and have the necessary rights. We moved heaven and earth to keep the filmmaker’s identity confidential,” Stapleton says in a statement for Netflix. “One thing about Sean Combs is that he’s always filming himself, and it’s been an obsession throughout the decades.”