The woman alleged she was sexually assaulted at a 2000 MTV Video Music Awards afterparty by rapper Jay-Z wants the court to toss out his lawsuit against her.
Shawn Carter had filed the suit after a woman previously dropped her claims of rape against him earlier this year. The legal dispute continues to escalate as both sides argue their positions.
In December 2024, the woman, referred to as "Jane Doe" in court filings, alleged that Jay-Z and music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs were among those who raped her when she was 13. She made her claim in a civil lawsuit, which she voluntarily dismissed a couple of months later, in February 2025. But Jay-Z wouldn't let the issue go and filed his own suit the following month.
The rapper claimed in his suit that Doe maliciously prosecuted him and abused the process of the court, as well as that he staged a civil conspiracy. He also alleged that her original allegations were false and defamatory, describing the lawsuit as an extortion attempt. The same day, Jay-Z also asserted a defamation claim against Doe, stating that her accusations were defamatory, false, and made with knowledge of their falsity. Thus, he was entitled to recover his damages.
Per TMZ, Doe's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss Jay-Z's lawsuit on April 22, 2025. Their motion contended that Jay-Z had no basis for his accusations of malicious prosecution, claiming he had not shown that his lawsuit had been set in motion with malice or that any legal processes had been misused. In its motion, however, Jay-Z's allegations didn't have any facts to support the abuse of process and civil conspiracy claims.
It also touched on Jay-Z's defamation claims, stating that several statements Doe made in her complaint against Jay-Z and statements she made to media outlets were protected under California's privilege law. Attorneys for Doe said the lawsuit did not meet the standards for defamation and pointed to Jay-Z's own claim that the allegations had been disproven in an NBC News article.
Jay-Z, in his filing, claimed to have suffered enormous emotional damage, humiliation, and loss of monetary donations as a result of the allegations. He said the "malicious, false, and reckless" accusations damaged his reputation and caused "severe damage" to his business organization, Roc Nation, which he claimed had a "loss of over $20 million." He seeks both compensatory and punitive damages.
Attorneys Clash Over the Case
Jay-Z's lawyer, Alex Spiro, has repeatedly argued that the rapper is filing the lawsuit in an effort to clear his name from a "false accusation." Spiro said in a March interview with "Good Morning America," "The truth had to fully come out. This person cannot be allowed to sort of hide from the reality that this was a false accusation."
Spiro also referenced a recording in which Doe allegedly denied that Jay-Z had sexually assaulted her. In the recording, Doe reportedly stated that she was pressured by her lawyer, Tony Buzbee, to name Jay-Z in the case. Spiro's assertion was met with a strong rebuttal from Buzbee, who called the claims "a blatant lie."
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