Sting Says Diddy Allegations Don’t ‘Plead’ Hit ‘Every Breath You Take’

In a recent interview, Sting discussed the Police’s top hit “Every Breath You Take” from their 1983 album Synchronicity and the song’s ties to Sean “Diddy” Combs.

During an interview with Los Angeles TimesSting said that despite the allegations against Combs — who sampled the song on 1997’s “I’ll Be Missing You” — the iconic song still belongs to him.

When asked if the Combs controversy affected the way the Police frontman viewed the ’80s classic, Sting replied: “No. I mean, I don’t know what happened (with Diddy). But it doesn’t tarnish the song for me at all. It is still my song.” Sting added that fans still “absolutely” love hearing that track performed.

The Bad Boy mogul is currently facing a sex-trafficking and extortion charge, along with at least a dozen new civil lawsuits filed against Combs following his arrest in September. Last week, Combs’ attorneys filed a motion urging the court to “immediately withhold out-of-court statements from potential witnesses and their counsel” while the court weighs both sides’ arguments.

Combs previously claimed he paid Sting $5,000 a day to use the song as a sample of “I’ll Be Missing You,” but the embattled musician later clarified that he was “being facetious.”

“Me and @OfficialSting have been friends for a long time! He never charged me $3K or $5K a day for Missing You,” Combs wrote on X in April 2023. “He’s probably making more than $5K a day on one of the biggest songs in history.”

“I’ll Be Missing You”, which featured Faith Hill in 1997, was a tribute to the Notorious BIG and became a hit for Diddy. The rapper only asked Sting’s permission for the sample after the song was released. Diddy and Sting have both addressed the situation in the past.

In an interview with Rolling Stone back in 2003, Sting confirmed that the unsettled sample has made him a lot of money.

“Those guys just take your shit, put it on record and deal with the legalities later,” Sting said at the time. “Elton John told me, ‘You’re going to hear (“I’ll Be Missing You”), you’re going to be a millionaire!’ I said, ‘I’m a millionaire!’ He said, ‘You’ll be a millionaire twice!’ I put a couple of my kids through college with the profits, and me and P. Diddy are still good friends.”