Diddy Doesn't Really Pay Sting $5,000 Per Day for Sampling His Song Without Permission

Sting and Diddy
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OK, Diddy now really is setting the record straight.

Diddy had everyone running to their calculators for no reason, it turns out, after the rap mogul revealed there's no truth behind him dishing $5,000 per day for sampling one of Sting's songs without his permission. 

Diddy on Friday took to social media and let it be known that he was only being "facetious" when chimed in after Sting, in a newly resurfaced 2018 interview with The Breakfast Club, said rumors that Diddy was paying him $2,000 per day "for the rest of his life" for sampling his song without his permission were true.

Diddy now says, not so much.

"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."

The stunning, albeit now debunked, story had everyone going crazy after Diddy subtweeted the resurfaced interview and said, "Nope. 5k a day. Love to my brother @OfficialSting," as if he was really setting the record straight.

The song at the center of all of this is Sting's "Every Breath You Take," which was released by his band, The Police, in 1983. That song was sampled by Diddy and Faith Evans in their 1997 tribute to the late rapper The Notorious B.I.G., dubbed, "I'll Be Missing You."

It's estimated that if Diddy actually had to pay $5,000 per day for sampling the song, he would have shelled out close to $50 million by now. Diddy and Faith Evans' track dropped in 1997, some two months after Biggie Smalls was gunned down in Los Angeles.

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