Sean 'Diddy' Combs Calls Out the Industry for Lack of Black Executives

Sean “Diddy” Combs is on the cover of the latest issue of Variety, out now.

Here’s what the 48-year-old entrepreneur had to say…

On hip-hop’s commercial dominance, especially through streaming: “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.”

On the industry lacking black executives in top-level positions: “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.”

On the #metoo movement and how that relates to black America: “I’m not gonna be anybody’s judge and jury. But I will say that nobody should feel like they’re getting taken advantage of or getting abused when they’re just trying to create a livelihood for themselves. There are a bunch of injustices going on, and the same fire and vigor that people have about the #MeToo movement, I think it’s time that they have that about the way black America has been treated too.”

For more from Diddy, visit Variety.com.