Diddy Criticizes The Industry’s Lack Of Black CEOs, Calls ‘Black Panther’ A “Cruel Experiment”

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

Diddy Slams Industry’s Lack Of Black CEOs, Calls ‘Black Panther’ A “Cruel Experiment”

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs believes there’s a huge issue with the lack of black CEOs in the entertainment industry. In a new interview, the industry veteran had a lot to get off his chest. He explained,

You have these record companies that are making so much money off our culture, our art form, but they’re not investing or even believing in us. For all the billions of dollars that these black executives have been able to make them, [there’s still hesitation] to put them in the top-level positions. They’ll go and they’ll recruit cats from overseas. It makes sense to give [executives of color] a chance and embrace the evolution, instead of it being that we can only make it to president, senior VP… There’s no black CEO of a major record company. That’s just as bad as the fact that there are no [black] majority owners in the NFL. That’s what really motivates me.

Diddy also shares his thoughts about the success of “Black Panther” and how it was a sad realization that black talent has been ignored for so long.

Black Panther was a cruel experiment because we live in 2018, and it’s the first time that the film industry gave us a fair playing field on a worldwide blockbuster, and the hundreds of millions it takes to make it.

Diddy is not surprised by the success of “Black Panther” or even Kanye West’s Adidas shoe deal. According to the music mogul, it’s a well-known fact that when you let black people be great, they’ll always over deliver.

We only get 5% of the venture capital invested in things that are black-owned — black-owned businesses, black-owned ideas, black-owned IP. You can’t do anything without that money, without resources. But when we do get the resources, we over-deliver. When adidas invests in Kanye and it’s done properly, you have the right results. When Live Nation invests in artists and puts them in arenas the same way U2 would be, you have the right results. Black Panther, Black-ish, fashion; it’s all about access. If you’re blocked out of the resources, you can’t compete. And that’s my whole thing — to be able to come and compete.

[Variety]