Diddy has come a long way from his early days in the music industry, transitioning from a record executive at Bad Boy Records to becoming one of the leading voices in Hip-Hop, the entire entertainment industry, and Black American culture. While Diddy is known for spreading love to Hip-Hop and R&B artists and giving them extravagant gifts, the mogul has recently decided to go in a more serious direction and write an open letter to Corporate America.
Published directly to his media and TV company REVOLT, “If You Love Us, Pay Us: A letter from Sean Combs to Corporate America” finds Diddy calling out shady Corporate America practices that negatively affect America’s Black community as well as advocating for meaningful change moving forward.
Teasing his open letter on Instagram with an archival clip of James Baldwin, Diddy directs his followers to REVOLT to read his approximately 450-word manifesto. The Bad Boy mogul opens the letter with a quote from Desmond Tutu, which states, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Immediately following that insightful quote, Diddy unleashes a statement that is just as powerful: “The same feet these companies use to stand with us in solidarity are the same feet they use to stand on our necks.”
Throughout his open letter, he discusses how corporations like General Motors have long exploited Black media companies like REVOLT as well as Black culture in general before giving Corporate America an ultimatum: “You’re either with us or you are on the other side.”
In order to do that, Diddy suggests that Corporate America gives “an equitable percentage” of what has been exploited and stolen from the Black Community and reinvests those resources back into it. “If the Black community represents 15% of your revenue,” Diddy writes, “Black-owned media should receive at least 15% of the advertising spend. If you love us, pay us! Not a token investment. Not a charity check or donation.”
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Do you agree with the stance that Diddy takes in his open letter to Corporate America?
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