Diddy Chimed In On The Theory That He Pays Sting Every Day For ‘I’ll Be Missing You’

Sting and Shaggy appeared on The Breakfast Club in March 2018. About six minutes into the conversation, Sting was asked about rappers who have requested clearances to sample his songs, including Diddy.

“Is it true that Diddy has to pay you two grand a day because he didn’t ask permission to sample [The Police’s] ‘Every Breath You Take’?” Charlamagne Tha God asked about Diddy’s 1997 No. 1 single “I’ll Be Missing You.”

“Yeah, for the rest of his life,” Sting jokingly responded. “If it’s on the radio, then it must be true!” he said before clarifying that Diddy actually did ask for permission at some point. Sting said he and Diddy were “very good friends now” and wasn’t “at all” upset about the sample. In fact, he was “very happy” because “it was a beautiful version of that song.”

A 22-second snippet of the exchange circulated on Twitter on Wednesday, April 5, and Diddy chimed in, writing, “Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother @OfficialSting!”

The truth probably resides somewhere in the middle, but regardless, Sting isn’t relying on extra cash from Diddy or anyone else. The New York Times broke the news in February 2022 that Sting sold his solo recording catalog and The Police songwriting catalog to Universal Music Group for an estimated $300 million.