Diddy Clarifies His Sting Payments, Says He Was Joking

Diddy had us clutching our wallets after saying he pays Sting $5,000 a day for sampling his song without permission.

But the business mogul tweeted on Friday that he was just joking about the whole thing.

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

“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,” he wrote.

Diddy recently said he paid Sting $5,000 in royalties a day for the sample of “Every Breath You Take” on 1997’s “I’ll Be Missing You,” Of course, it sent people into a frenzy.

Earlier this week, a clip resurfaced from Sting’s 2018 interview with “The Breakfast Club.”

Sting, the frontman of the English band The Police, disclosed that Diddy pays him several thousand dollars every day for sampling their 1980s hit “Every Breath You Take” for Diddy’s ’90s hit.

Sting confirmed that Diddy must pay him daily “for the rest of his life.”

“We’re very good friends now,” Sting added.

Diddy then confirmed the claims on Twitter but added an additional $3k to the “$2,000 a day” claim.

“Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother,” he wrote.

Diddy used pieces of the legendary song without permission.

“Elton John told me, ‘You gotta hear (“I’ll Be Missing You”), you’re gonna be a millionaire!’ ” Sting told Rolling Stone in 2003. “I put a couple of my kids through college with the proceeds, and me and P. Diddy are good pals still,” Sting recalled.

Diddy’s “Missing You” came out in 1997 and was a song dedicated to his late friend Biggie Smalls and features Faith Evans and 112.

It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 11 weeks on the top music chart.