Judge Orders Combs to Pay NBCUniversal $477,700 in Fees

A New York judge has ordered Sean Combs to pay NBCUniversal $477,700.50 in legal fees after dismissing his defamation lawsuit over the Peacock documentary Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy. The award is less than half the roughly $990,000 NBCUniversal sought, with the court reducing the bill after finding some of the hours charged were excessive. Combs sued NBCUniversal and other companies in February 2025, seeking at least $100 million and alleging that the documentary falsely connected him to deaths and other serious misconduct. The suit was dismissed in April 2026 under New York’s anti-SLAPP law, which allows defendants to seek fees in qualifying cases involving public participation. The judge directed the defendants to apply for reimbursement. NBCUniversal’s fee request totaled $990,292, according to court filings summarized in reports. The judge set the award at $477,700.50. The decision accepted the lawyers’ hourly rates but reduced the number of hours billed. The precise award is also reported in rounded form as about $478,000. Combs’s representative Juda Engelmayer said the court found substantial portions of NBCUniversal’s request excessive and unreasonable.