A woman who accused Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter and Sean "Diddy" Combs of sexually assaulting her at an after-party following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards is heard in a recording admitting that the allegations against Jay-Z were false, according to the rapper's legal team. The lawsuit, which was withdrawn with prejudice, can no longer be refiled, but Jay-Z is now suing the accuser and her attorney, Tony Buzbee, for defamation.
In the taped conversation, obtained by Jay-Z's representatives, the woman, identified as Jane Doe, told private investigators that Jay-Z was present at the party but did not participate in any sexual acts. "He was just there, but he didn't have anything to do with any sexual acts towards you?" an investigator asked. "Yeah," Doe responded.
The recording also includes Doe stating that her lawyer encouraged her to include Jay-Z in the lawsuit. "He was the one that kind of pushed me towards going forward with him, with Jay-Z," she said, referring to Buzbee.
Jay-Z's attorney, Alex Spiro, emphasized the significance of the recording in an interview with Good Morning America. "The tape speaks for itself," Spiro said. "[Doe] says in no uncertain terms, Mr. Carter did not do this. It is effectively a lie, and the only reason Mr. Carter is even involved in this is because she was pushed to involve him."
However, Buzbee has strongly denied these claims, calling the recording a "blatant lie." He provided Good Morning America with a separate phone call between himself and Doe, in which she denied ever stating that Jay-Z was innocent. "They say they have you on tape denying that Jay-Z assaulted you? Is that true?" Buzbee asked her. "No. No. I don't-I've never said that," Doe replied.
Doe maintains that she dropped the lawsuit due to fear of intimidation and retaliation from Jay-Z and his supporters. In a sworn declaration, she denied telling investigators that Buzbee pressured her to sue the rapper. "The investigators tormented and harassed and tricked that poor woman and took what she said out of context and secretly recorded her," Buzbee said in a statement. "She stands by her claim that Jay-Z was there at the party and that [he] assaulted her. She has never wavered on that point, not once."
Despite the lawsuit being dismissed on February 14, Jay-Z has filed a defamation suit against both Doe and her attorneys, claiming they knowingly pursued false accusations. "The frivolous, fictitious, and appalling allegations have been dismissed," Jay-Z said in a statement after the lawsuit was dropped. "This civil suit was without merit and never going anywhere."
According to Spiro, Jay-Z had no prior connection to Doe. "She voluntarily met, spoke to them and she told them her truth," he said, adding that his client was "never going to pay one red penny" in a settlement.
The lawsuit's dismissal comes after weeks of legal battles, during which Buzbee alleged that Jay-Z's team had been attempting to intimidate Doe into recanting. "Shawn Carter's investigators have repeatedly harassed, threatened, and harangued this poor woman for weeks," Buzbee stated.
Meanwhile, Jay-Z's camp insists that the allegations have caused immense harm to the rapper's family. "Mr. Carter has a daughter the same age [as Jane Doe], and they had to deal with that and the very public life," a source close to Jay-Z told Fox News Digital.
Jay-Z, one of the world's most successful hip-hop artists, is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages in his defamation lawsuit. His attorneys argue that the case represents a broader issue of false accusations damaging reputations. "This country has falsely accused people in prison more than any other country in the world," a source close to Jay-Z said. "Mr. Carter, after spending decades fighting for justice, is not going to let this slide."
