Diddy in 2005. Photo by Scott Gries/Getty Images
I don't know exactly when celebs started spending huge amounts of effort and money on their Halloween costumes (not to get all Black Mirror, but I'd wager around the time Instagram was invented). Still, it's a novel annual distraction to see Ice Spice dressed as Betty Boop and Fat Joe as Ozempic, if only to see how they try to outdo each other. Diddy is a billionaire, making crushing his rivals his literal business, so it's no surprise that he's made some pretty outlandish claims about how his 2022 get-up — Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight.
In a video posted last night to Instagram, Diddy claims that he received legal documents from the studio behind The Dark Knight after pictures of his celebrated and highly accurate Joker costume went viral. "Last year after I did the Black Joker I got a bunch of emails from the studio telling me not to be the Joker anymore, that I was breaching the trademark." In a subsequent clip, Diddy reveals his Batman costume with a skit about pressuring a Hollywood studio suit to end the SAG-AFTRA strike. There's even an appearance from a Biblically-accurate Batmobile. Watch both videos below.
Just before the costume was revealed, Diddy appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and discussed his Joker dust-up, as Complex points out. "Last year I was the Joker and I actually got a letter from the studio that I can no longer be the Joker," Diddy claimed. "They said it broke they trademark, that I did it too good. I swear I have this letter. I swear to god. From Warner Bros."
If DIddy did, in fact, receive such a letter, it may have been due to a video posted last year where the music mogul displayed a bottle of his tequila DeLeón. Take it from Screen Rant: "Registered characters and their likenesses can only be used to promote a service or a product with official permission from the company that owns them." So keep that in mind for next year's Halloween if you or your child is an established brand with a dedicated social media following.
