This past weekend, Sean “Diddy” Combs took to his social media account to tell the world that he would no longer answer to any moniker other than Love, aka Brother Love. He made the announcement — which he framed as serious — on his 48th birthday, noting, “I’m just not who I am before … I’m someone different. So my new name is Love AKA Brother Love.”
Now, according to a follow-up post by “Love,” who recently won a Hollywood Film Award for his documentary Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, the name change was simply a joke. “I see you can’t play with the internet,” he wrote in the video’s caption.
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“I was only joking … It was just part of one of my alter egos. One of my alter egos is Love,” he explained in the video. “You can address me by any of my older names. But if you still wanna call me Love, you can call me Love, baby. But I was only playin’.”
After the announcement, Twitter has a plethora of mixed reactions. The harshest criticism — naturally — came from fans of former WWF personality Bruce Prichard, who invented the character Brother Love back in the ’80s.
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
Every wrestling fan after finding out that P Diddy changed his name to Brother Love… pic.twitter.com/Ue8kcQWnep
— Jonny Loquasto (@JQuasto) November 6, 2017
Why did no one tell me until now that @Diddy changed his name to Brother Love?
Should be good for t shirts… well, you know… pic.twitter.com/2aPuqsXlbX
— Sam Roberts (@notsam) November 6, 2017
This (alleged) name change wasn’t the first for Diddy, which made the move all the more amusing for some. Originally known as Puff Daddy, he later shortened it to Puffy (or Puff), then later changed it to P.Diddy before settling on Diddy.
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His shifting aliases were famously roasted by Ben Stiller in the 2001 visual for “Bad Boys For Life” featuring Black Rob.
Check out the original name change announcement below.
I decided to change my name again!
My new name is LOVE aka Brother Love. #TakeDatpic.twitter.com/gArAXusygG
— Sean Diddy Combs (@diddy) November 4, 2017
