Jay-Z’s legal fight against a woman who accused him of rape isn’t over. The rapper, born Shawn Carter, is now suing the anonymous Jane Doe and her lawyers for defamation after she withdrew her lawsuit last month. In a lawsuit filed on March 3, per Rolling Stone, Jay-Z said Doe’s allegations — that he raped her alongside Diddy after the 2000 VMAs — were “completely fabricated.” Further, Jay-Z’s lawsuit claims Doe “voluntarily admitted directly to representatives of Mr. Carter” that her accusation was false, though it does not give details of that admission. Meanwhile, Doe’s attorney Tony Buzbee said she stands by her accusation even though she withdrew her lawsuit. “Shawn Carter’s investigators have repeatedly harassed, threatened, and harangued this poor woman for weeks trying to intimidate her and make her recant her story,” Buzbee said in a statement. “She won’t. Instead she has stated repeatedly she stands by her claims.” Buzbee is one of the two lawyers whom Jay-Z is also suing, alongside David Fortney.
Doe first named Jay-Z when she refiled her lawsuit in December of last year. She claimed she went to the MTV Video Music Awards without a ticket in 2000 when she was 13. Outside the ceremony, Doe said she was invited to Sean “Diddy” Combs’s after-party, where she alleged Diddy and Jay-Z raped her. Jay-Z vociferously denied the allegations, which he characterized as a “blackmail attempt.” Then, days later, Doe admitted to NBC News that she “made some mistakes” in remembering her lawsuit after NBC noted inconsistencies in her story — including where the party was, other celebrities she met there, and whether her father picked her up afterward. Still, Doe maintained her allegation overall. “Our client remains fiercely adamant that what she has stated is true, to the best of her memory,” Buzbee told NBC at the time.