Diddy says he was “joking” about being forced to pay Sting $5,000 a day for the rest of his life

Diddy has backtracked over comments he made in which he said he was forced to pay Sting £4,020 ($5,000) each day for the rest of his life.

Earlier this week, the rapper responded to a re-surfaced interview with the musician in which The Police frontman said he received royalties for their hit 1983 single, ‘Every Breath You Take’, which Diddy sampled in one of his most famous tracks, ‘I’ll Be Missing You’.

The hip-hop icon was said to have been forced to pay the ongoing fee after sampling the track without permission in 1997.

Diddy then tweeted to confirm that he pays Sting “5k a day.”

But today (April 7) the rapper took to Twitter to set the record straight and said his previous tweet was a joke.

He wrote: “I want y’all to understand I was joking! It’s called being facetious! Me and @OfficialSting have been friends for a long time! He never charged me $3K or $5K a day for ‘Missing You.’ He probably makes more than $5K a day from one of the biggest songs in history.”

I want y’all to understand I was joking! It’s called being Facetious! Me and @OfficialSting have been friends for a long time! He never charged me $3K or $5K a day for Missing You. He probably makes more than $5K a day from one of the biggest songs in history.

LOVE ❤️????⚡️✨

— LOVE (@Diddy) April 7, 2023

Sean John Combs, who is known professionally as Diddy, wrote ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ as a tribute to his longtime friend Christopher ‘The Notorious B.I.G.’ Wallace. Previously discussing his inspiration to write the song, the musician said that he was contemplating quitting the profession after hearing of the passing, however, was motivated after hearing The Police song.

“I was ready to quit; I wasn’t gonna put out any more records. Then I was watching TV one day-you know, one of those times of despair where nobody is around, and you’re like crying on the floor,” he said at the time (via UniLad). “Then I just heard ‘Every Breath You Take’ by The Police. I just took it as a sign. Sometimes you just need that little bit of light to be able to express yourself.”

Elsewhere, last month Diddy has teased that he wants to purchase BET media groups, after commenting on the network and how he thinks it should be Black-owned.