A woman who accused rapper Jay-Z of raping her when she was 13 has withdrawn the allegation, stating in a court filing that she never met him.
DR reports that the woman, who sued Jay-Z in 2024, now says the accusation was false. As DR notes, the Danish broadcaster based its report on the American music magazine Rolling Stone.
The original claim alleged that Jay-Z, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, and Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulted her at an MTV awards after-party in 2000. She was 13 at the time, according to the lawsuit. Both men denied the allegations.
Per Reuters, the declaration was filed on September 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan. In it, the woman states that Carter never raped her and that she never met or spoke with him. She also states that he never behaved inappropriately toward her in any way.
From lawsuit to defamation case
The woman dropped her case against Jay-Z and Combs in 2025, DR reports. Jay-Z then sued her and her former attorneys for defamation. The new declaration was filed as part of that case.
Rolling Stone published details from the 12-page declaration and reports that the woman said there was no truth to her claims against the rapper. The magazine also reports that she told her legal team about mental-health conditions.
According to DR, Jay-Z has now dropped his claim against the woman following the recantation. The litigation against her former lawyers continues. Both DR and Reuters report that the woman said she was neither promised nor paid money for the declaration.
Jay-Z has previously described the accusations as an attempted extortion. When the woman dropped her case in 2025, he said the trauma experienced by his wife, his children, and those closest to him could never be dismissed. He is married to the singer Beyoncé.
The case has been followed closely in the international music press since the original filing in 2024. Combs was not named as a party in the defamation case described by DR and Reuters.
