UPDATED: Jay-Z has issued a statement after his name was added in a civil lawsuit that accuses both the rapper and Sean “Diddy” Combs of allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000.
According to a NBC News report, the lawsuit filed by the Texas-based Tony Buzbee was originally filed in October in the Southern District of New York and listed Combs as the defendant. NBC News reports it was refiled Sunday to include Jay-Z, whose full name is Shawn Carter.
The accuser is ID’ed as Jane Doe in the suit. The assault allegedly happened after she was driven to a party after the MTV Video Music Awards.
Related Stories
In a statement posted on his Roc Nation account on Instagram, Jay-Z accuses Buzbee of blackmail in what he deemed a “demand letter” from the attorney.
“What he had calculated was the nature of these allegations and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle. 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!!
“These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one!! Whomever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree?
These alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case.
“This lawyer, who I have done a bit of research on, seems to have a pattern of these type of theatrics!
I have no idea how you have come to be such a deplorable human Mr. Buzbee, but I promise you I have seen your kind many times over. I’m more than prepared to deal with your type. You claim to be a marine?! Marines are known for their valor, you have neither honor nor dignity.
“My only heartbreak is for my family. 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. 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.
“My heart and support goes out to true victims in the world, who have to watch how their life story is dressed in costume for profitability by this ambulance chaser in a cheap suit. You have made a terrible error in judgement thinking that all “celebrities” are the same. I’m not from your moral world. I’m a young man who made it out of the project of Brooklyn. We don’t play these types of games. We have very strict codes and honor. We protect children, 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. I look forward to showing you just how different I am.”
In October, Buzbee vowed to file multiple cases on behalf of alleged victims of Combs. That is in addition to the nearly 20 other civil cases and the criminal charges of sex trafficking and more from the feds that Combs is fighting.
Of the half a dozen plaintiffs for Combs’ accused actions between 1995 and 2021 filed in federal court in New York under the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, one of them was a 19-year old female and one was a 16-year old boy.
Combs has repeatedly denied all the accusations against him. On November 27, a federal judge rejected his most recent bid to be released from New York City’s Metropolitan Detention Center before his 2025 trial.
Arrested in mid-September on racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution charges that could see him in prison for life if found guilty, the 55-year-old Combs’ trial is set to start on May 5, 2025. Putting up a $50 million bond plus other guarantees, Combs saw two previous bail efforts stymied in September.
Dominic Patten contributed to this report.