Stop the presses. It turns out the Artist Formerly Known as Diddy Formerly Known as P. Diddy Formerly Known as Puff Daddy and Sometimes Known as Sean Combs is still known as Diddy. After sending a small subsection of the internet into disarray with the Saturday announcement that he would henceforth be known only as “LOVE aka Brother Love,” Diddy has walked back his announcement, saying that he was only joking. But was he? Is there more to this story than meets the eye?
It all started on Saturday, Diddy’s 48th birthday, when a content-looking Combs tweeted a video revealing his decision to take on a new name.
“I’m just not who I am before,” he said. “I’m something different.”
“I will not be answering to Puffy, Diddy, Puff Daddy, or any of my other monikers, but Love or Brother Love,” he continued.
Two days later, on Monday, Diddy released another video, this time on Instagram, telling fans that he was only playing and would not be changing his name after all.
“Well, ladies and gentlemen, today I’ve come to the conclusion that you cannot play around with the internet,” he said. “Due to overwhelming response from the media out there and just due to there not wanting to be any confusion, I was only joking. OK? I didn’t change my name.”
But it’s not clear the many-named mogul actually intended his first announcement as a joke—Diddy doesn’t seem like one to joke about love or name changes. Rather, it seems pressure was placed upon him by fans of another Brother Love, Bruce Prichard, who wrestled under the stage name with World Wrestling Entertainment from the late ’80s up until 2008. Prichard was not keen to share the love, replying to Diddy’s original tweet saying, “I am the original and you are not,” and, mysteriously, “Remember North Carolina.”
Prichard, who had his own Brother Love Show throughout the ’90s, spent the weekend retweeting supportive messages from fans, including “There is only ONE ‘Brother Love’,” “Puff Daddy should change his name to ‘Plagiarizer’,” and “Puff daddy trying to pull an alabama doink on you guys? Bruce=the only bro love.”
It looks like the pressure got too much for Brother Love 2.0, forcing him to pretend his heartfelt announcement, his true self, had been nothing but a joke. Prichard, having forced Diddy to continue to live as something he is not, seemed satisfied by victory.
I think we’ve all learned a valuable lesson today, which is that you cannot play around with Love.
And remember North Carolina.
