Diddy doesn't really pay Sting $5,000 a day for song sample: 'I was joking!'
Diddy's Grammy-winning hit "I'll Be Missing You" doesn't really come with a daily price tag.
After the rapper 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,” Diddy clarified he was joking.
“I want y’all to understand I was joking!” Diddy wrote on Twitter Friday. “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.”
How did this all start?
This week, in a resurfaced clip from Sting's 2018 interview with "The Breakfast Club," the frontman of English band The Police revealed that the Bad Boy Record label founder 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, born Sean Combs, has to pay him every day "for the rest of his life."
"We're very good friends now," Sting added.
Diddy confirmed the payments on Twitter Wednesday, but upped the ante on the official price tag, which were said to be $2,000 a day.
"Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother," he wrote.
USA TODAY reached out to reps for Sting and Diddy for further comment.
Sting opened up about the sample that was originally used without permission in a 2003 interview with Rolling Stone, saying that Diddy's team "put it on a record and (dealt) with the legality later."
"Elton John told me, 'You gotta hear ("I’ll Be Missing You"), you’re gonna be a millionaire!' " Sting told the music magazine. "I put a couple of my kids through college with the proceeds, and me and P. Diddy are good pals still."
Diddy's "Missing You" was a song dedicated to late rapper Biggie Smalls and features Faith Evans and 112. The song was released in 1997 and was a single from Diddy's debut album "No Way Out."
The song debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 11 weeks on the top music chart.
More of what Diddy has been up to
'Pioneering force': Diddy to be honored at the 2022 BET Awards for lifetime achievement
Diddy gets Sean John back: Sean 'Diddy' Combs saves Sean John brand from bankruptcy with $7.5 million bid
Name change?: Diddy/Puff/Sean Combs says he was joking about changing his name, again, to 'Love'
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Diddy jokes he pays Sting $5K a day for song sample
