The Rape Lawsuit Against Jay-Z and Diddy Has Been Dismissed

Jay-Z is no longer being sued for rape alongside Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. According to court documents filed on Friday, the civil lawsuit has been voluntarily dismissed by attorney Tony Buzbee, who represented the Jane Doe accuser in the case. Doe had alleged that Combs and Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter) drugged and assaulted her at a VMAs afterparty in 2000. The anonymous accuser, who was 13 at the time of her allegations, has acknowledged inconsistencies in an NBC interview about her claims, but said she was standing by her overall allegations. The suit was dismissed with prejudice, which means that it can’t be re-filed. Carter celebrated the news as a “victory” and denounced the allegations as “frivolous, fictitious and appalling” in a statement shared on Roc Nation’s Instagram. “This civil suit was without merit and never going anywhere,” he wrote. “The fictional tale they created was laughable, if not for the seriousness of the claims. I would not wish this experience on anyone. The trauma that my wife, my children, my loved ones and I have endured can never be dismissed.”

Filed in New York in December, the lawsuit was an amended version of a previous complaint filed solely against Diddy. Carter accused Buzbee of adding him as a co-defendant as a “blackmail attempt.” In his Friday statement, the rapper slammed Buzbee as a “1-800 lawyer” who filed a suit “hiding behind a Jane Doe.” He criticized the legal system for the lack of repercussions for Buzbee. “The court must protect victims, OF COURSE, while with the same ethical responsibility, the courts must protect the innocent from being accused without a shred of evidence,” Carter concluded. “May the truth prevail for all victims and those falsely accused equally.”

Combs still faces multiple other assault and rape lawsuits as he remains in jail awaiting trial on criminal charges of racketeering and sex-trafficking. His legal team suggested in a statement to Billboard that this dismissed suit will be the first of many complaints that will not hold up in court. “Just like this claim, the others will fall apart because there is no truth to them. Sean Combs has never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone—man or woman, adult or minor,” the statement read in part. “No number of lawsuits, sensationalized allegations, or media theatrics will change that reality. “

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• Breaking Down Jay-Z’s Addition to a Diddy Case
• Jay-Z Named As Co-Defendant in One of Diddy’s Sexual-Assault Lawsuits