Sean “Diddy” Combs isn’t Diddy anymore. The rapper announced Saturday, Nov. 4 that he will no longer answer to any other name aside from Love or Brother Love. And WWE fans are riled up, saying the persona has already been taken.
“I decided to change my name again,” Diddy says in a clip posted to Twitter on his 48th birthday. “I’m just not who I [was] before. I’m something different. So my new name is Love aka Brother Love. I will not be answering to Puffy, Diddy, Puff Daddy, or any of my other monikers but Love or Brother Love.”
https://twitter.com/diddy/status/926915432556015616
Supporters of the wrestling organization say the moniker has already been branded by wrestling personality Bruce Prichard in the 1980s-1990s. Prichard was a manager of WWE promotion and performed his duties as the red-faced televangelist preacher-type Brother Love.
You mean like the wrestling manager? That’s gimmick infringement. @HeyHeyItsConrad @bruceprichard @PrichardShow pic.twitter.com/3ykU0s5rRu
— CoCo & Stu (@CoCoandStu) November 4, 2017
Puffy out here talkin bout don't call him anything but "Brother Love"…. pic.twitter.com/Eilc5Igm4a
— Cole Wright (@ColeWright) November 4, 2017
When it comes to “Brother Love” aka @bruceprichard, accept no substitutes. pic.twitter.com/X0ePFChNyJ
— Brian Coelho (@BrianCoelho_) November 6, 2017
One Twitter user tried to challenge Diddy’s penchant for discovering new talent and was quickly called out.
— Jason Hall (@JasonHall__) November 6, 2017
BIG never won the World title
— Raymond Blair (@KingRaymondIII) November 6, 2017
Oh, but he did. Twice. pic.twitter.com/pIrT6s8SxA
— Jason Hall (@JasonHall__) November 6, 2017
Soon, Pritchard himself chimed in, telling the artist formerly known as Diddy to back off. He also warned him to “Remember North Carolina,” the meaning of which is unclear.
Yo. Find a new gimmick. I invented and perfected Brother Love. I am the original and you are not. Remember North Carolina.
— Bruce Prichard (@bruceprichard) November 4, 2017
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A debate emerged over Combs’ use of the Brother Love name, with one user relating it to the rapper “stealing” other artists’ songs. In reality, however, the man who has been known as Puffy, P. Diddy and Sean John, has always used samples, a hallmark of hip hop.
I miss the part where he said he was the original, I also think he said first he changed his name to love ..you focused on the aka part
— S G (@SGofDaRuSH) November 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/Koupe_Deville/status/927014905785602048
https://twitter.com/Koupe_Deville/status/927177349715677186
https://twitter.com/Koupe_Deville/status/927449391228751872
The Rolling Stones.. The same Rolling Stones who basically stole an entire black genre and sound & passed it on as their own??? Those guys
— Koupe San (@Koupe_Deville) November 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/laneofoneg79/status/927551028588961797