Sean 'Diddy' Combs 'was only joking' about changing name to Brother Love

Well, that didn’t last long.

After announcing over the weekend that he was changing his name to Brother Love, Diddy (formerly P. Diddy, Puffy, Puff Daddy, etc.) revealed Monday evening on Instagram he was “was only joking.”

“Well, ladies and gentlemen, today I’ve come to the conclusion that you cannot play around with the internet,” Diddy said after opening with a line from Lionel Richie’s “Hello.” “Due to the overwhelming response from the media out there, and just due to there not wanting to be any confusion… I was only joking. Okay? I didn’t change my name. It was just part of one of my alter egos. One of my alter egos is Love.”

And to make things even less confusing, he says he’s fine being called any of his former monikers. “To set the record straight, because I have a lot of press to do in the next couple of weeks, 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 playing.”

Diddy was telling a very different tune over the weekend, though. “I have some very serious news,” said the rapper and King of Marketing in a video on Twitter. “I’ve been praying on this and… I knew it was risky, ’cause it could come off as corny to some people, [but] I decided to change my name again… I’m just not who I am before. I’m something different. So my new name is Love, a.k.a. Brother Love. I will not be answering to Puffy, Diddy, Puff Daddy, or any of my other monikers but Love or Brother Love.”

The 48-year-old mogul — and this year’s highest-paid celebrity — has obviously gone through many a name change over the years, with Forbes pointing out that the name changes correspond with the release of a new album. His sixth (and rumored to be final) studio album No Way Out 2 is due for a December release. Here’s to Love! Er, Diddy?