Jay-Z has filed a defamation lawsuit against attorney Tony Buzbee, David Fortney and a Jane Doe over a previously dropped suit that alleged sexual assault.
The suit, filed in Alabama and reviewed by Variety, comes a few weeks after Doe dropped her case against Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter) and Sean “Diddy” Combs. In his suit, Jay-Z states that the initial allegations of rape were knowingly “false” and “malicious,” and were “strategically and tactically calculated and time to inflict maximum pain and suffering on Mr. Carter.”
Buzbee, who has filed dozens of lawsuits against Combs over the past year, filed Doe’s suit in Oct. 2024 and refiled two months later to include Jay-Z as a defendant. That suit accused both men of raping Doe in 2000 after bringing her to an MTV Video Music Awards after-party. Jay-Z vehemently and publicly denied the claims, and the case was dropped without explanation on Feb. 14.
Now, Jay-Z is alleging that the suit was predicated on false information from the start. His lawyers describe Doe as appearing to suffer from personal and financial hardship and hired Buzbee “to obtain a payday.” Before adding his name to the suit, Buzbee sent him an “extortionate” demand letter and anonymous lawsuit, both of which he rebuffed, and then proceeded to name him publicly. After the suit was refiled, Doe gave an interview on NBC News which Jay-Z’s lawyers say was full of lies.
His attorneys claim that Doe had informed Buzbee that he “did not sexually assault [her],” and that Buzbee “pushed [her] towards going forward with the false story against Mr. Carter” to extort them for more money. Jay-Z alleges that Doe also “voluntarily admitted directly to representatives of Mr. Carter that the story brought before the world in court and on global television was just that: a false, malicious story.”
The suit notes that he “does not commence this action lightly,” and that he doesn’t want to expose Doe’s identity despite everything that’s transpired. But, the suit continues, he does want to “hold Doe accountable for her willful defamation per se and her malicious prosecution of knowingly false allegations.”
Variety has reached out to Buzbee and Jay-Z’s representatives for further comment.
Jay-Z is suing for malicious prosecution, abuse of process, civil conspiracy and defamation. He’s seeking assumed and actual damages, as well as punitive damages.
