Jay-Z accuser recants rape allegation, says she never met rapper

A woman who filed a lawsuit accusing Jay-Z of rape when she was 13 years old has now formally declared that her allegations were entirely false and that she has never met the rapper. In a statement filed in court on Thursday, the woman—identified in legal documents as Jane Doe—wrote that Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter "never raped me" and that she had "never met or spoken to Mr. Carter." She also retracted claims that Carter and Sean "Diddy" Combs had assaulted her at a party following the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000, while an unnamed third celebrity watched. "There is no truth to any of my claims against Mr Carter," she stated, adding that she understood her false accusations had caused the rapper "immense pain, suffering, and damage that can never be fully undone."

The original lawsuit was filed in October 2024, roughly a year after the woman saw a Facebook advertisement seeking people with potential sexual assault claims against Combs. She said the ad triggered memories of being raped at age 13. However, in her new declaration, she alleged that the law firm representing her had filed the complaint without her authorization, without obtaining her approval of the lawsuit's contents, and without conducting any independent investigation, background inquiry, or corroboration of the allegations. She claimed she was never provided with a draft of the lawsuit before it was filed.

Jay-Z and his legal team had vehemently denied the accusations from the outset. The rapper, whose real name is Shawn Carter, called the allegations a "blackmail attempt" and described them as "frivolous, fictitious and appalling." When the woman dropped the lawsuit in February 2025, Carter issued a statement saying that "the trauma that my wife, my children, loved ones and I have endured can never be dismissed." He subsequently filed his own lawsuit against the woman and her legal representatives, seeking damages.

The woman's former attorney, Tony Buzbee, disputed her recantation. In a statement to Rolling Stone, Buzbee said he had not yet seen her new declaration and suggested that the woman had told the same story to at least four different lawyers before he became involved in the case. "If for some reason now she is claiming she lied to us and the court, that's new information," he said. Buzbee also noted that when Carter filed his lawsuit against the woman and her legal team in February 2025, Buzbee had claimed that Carter's investigators had "repeatedly harassed, threatened and harangued" the woman in an attempt to intimidate her into recanting her story.

In her latest statement, however, the woman denied receiving any threats from Carter or anyone acting on his behalf. She also stated that she had not received any money from the rapper or anyone representing him, and had not been paid to make her new declaration. The court has now removed her from Carter's ongoing lawsuit against her former lawyers.

Buzbee represents numerous other people who have made allegations against Combs. In July 2025, Combs was convicted on prostitution-related charges involving his two ex-girlfriends and is currently serving a four-year prison sentence. Combs had denied the woman's allegations against him, with his lawyer describing the civil case as one of several "pushed forward by an attorney more focused on media headlines than legal merit."