Jay-Z has released a lengthy statement denying a bombshell allegation that he raped a 13-year-old girl in 2000 with Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The civil lawsuit was originally filed in October and only mentioned Sean “Diddy” Combs at the time. It was refiled on Sunday with Jay-Z’s name.
The accuser remains anonymous, only identified as “Jane Doe.” She claims that she was raped by Combs and Jay-Z while a still unnamed female celebrity watched following the MTV Music Video Awards in a New York City residence.
Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, noted in one section of his statement that his wife, Beyoncé, and their children will be affected by the “heinous” claims.
“My only heartbreak is for my family,” he said on Sunday. “My wife and I will have to sit our children down, one of whom is at the age where her friends will surely see the press and ask questions about the nature of these claims, and explain the cruelty and greed of people.”
“I mourn yet another loss of innocence,” the hip-hop legend continued. “Children should not have to endure such at their young age. It is unfair to have to try to understand inexplicable degrees of malice meant to destroy families and human spirit.”
Jay-Z, 55, and Beyonce, 43, have been married since 2008 and are parents of Blue Ivy, 12, and twins Rumi and Sir, both 8.
Additionally, he directed his response to Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee, labeling the filing as a “blackmail attempt.”
“My lawyer received a blackmail attempt, called a demand letter, from a ‘lawyer’ named Tony Buzbee. What he had calculated was the nature of these allegations and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle,” Jay-Z stated. “No sir, it had the opposite effect! It made me want to expose you for the fraud you are in a VERY public fashion. So no, I will not give you ONE RED PENNY!!”
“You seem to exploit people for personal gain. Only your network of conspiracy theorists, fake physics, will believe the idiotic claims you have levied against me that, if not for the seriousness surrounding harm to kids, would be laughable.”
In June 2022, Diddy was supported by Jay-Z via a video message when he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2022 BET Awards.
“Here’s this guy from a neighborhood similar to where I grown up that made it to these unreachable heights,” Jay-Z said at the time. “Puff was the first one that came through and made us feel like it was us.”
Combs is still being held in a federal prison in Brooklyn on sex trafficking and racketeering charges following his September arrest.
The mogul was denied bail for a third time in late November and his trial is scheduled for May 2025. Buzbee is representing more than a dozen individual cases of alleged abuse against Combs.
