A civil lawsuit accusing rappers Jay-Z and Diddy of raping a 13-year-old girl at a party in New York in 2000 has been dropped by the accuser.
According to documents filed by the plaintiff in federal court in New York on Friday, the lawsuit was “voluntarily dismissed with prejudice.”
The lawsuit, which initially targeted Diddy in October 2023 before Jay-Z was added as a defendant in December, alleged that both men assaulted Jane Doe after an MTV Video Music Awards afterparty in 2000.
However, the case faced significant scrutiny, particularly after Jane Doe admitted in a December interview that “not all the facts are clear” and acknowledged, “I have made some mistakes. I may have made a mistake in identifying.”
Jay-Z vehemently denied the allegations, calling them “frivolous, fictitious, and appalling” in a statement issued by his entertainment company, Roc Nation.
“This civil suit was without merit and never going anywhere. The fictional tale they created was laughable, if not for the seriousness of the claims,” he wrote.
Jay-Z also emphasised the emotional toll the accusations took on his family, stating, “The trauma that my wife, my children, loved ones, and I have endured can never be dismissed.”
His attorney, Alex Spiro, echoed these sentiments, asserting that the case “never should have been brought.”
In a statement to the BBC, Spiro praised Jay-Z for standing firm against the allegations, saying, “By standing up in the face of heinous and false allegations, Jay has done what few can – he pushed back, he never settled, he never paid 1 red penny, he triumphed and cleared his name.”
Jay-Z had previously accused Jane Doe’s legal team of attempting to “blackmail” him into a settlement, a claim he said only strengthened his resolve to fight the case publicly.
Last month, he formally requested the court to dismiss the lawsuit, citing inconsistencies in Jane Doe’s account.
Reacting to the dismissal, Jay-Z described it as a victory for those falsely accused.
“Today is a victory. The frivolous, fictitious, and appalling allegations have been dismissed,” Jay-Z said in a statement posted on his company Roc Nation’s social media page.
“The trauma my wife, my children, and my loved ones have endured can never be dismissed.”
