While everyone was celebrating the holiday, it seems like Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter had a special gift for Texas attorney Tony Buzbee...in the form of a lawsuit.
The war between the rapper and the lawyer has escalated since Jane Doe, who Buzbee represents, accused Carter and Sean “Diddy” Combs of raping her while she was 13 years old. Now more than two weeks after Jay-Z was named in the suit, he’s turning the tables and suing Buzbee.
In the amended complaint, which was filed on Dec. 20, the rapper accused Buzbee of defamation and “naked extortion,” according to PEOPLE. “In short, Defendants [Buzbee and his law firm] placed a gun to Mr. Carter’s head,” the filing, obtained by Uproxx, said. “They were demanding that Mr. Carter either: (a) pay ‘something of substance’ to stop Defendants from making public the wildly false allegations of sexual assault that would subject Mr. Carter to opprobrium and irreparably harm his reputation, family, career and livelihood, or (2) endure that financial and personal ruin.”
When the civil lawsuit against Carter was first made public, the rapper responded to Buzbee and the allegations saying “no, I will not give you ONE RED PENNY!!” after accusing the lawyer of blackmail.
If that wasn’t enough, Hov’s new filing also alleges Buzbee went to the media before finishing vetting the accuser’s story. Because of this, he claims Buzbee intentionally defamed him to try to force a settlement, according to Uproxx.
“Beginning in October 2024, Buzbee spoke on any news platform that would have him, threatening that his firm has ‘a long list of names’ of people in the entertainment industry who he accused of ‘terrible conduct,’ and who ‘should be prosecuted and put underneath [sic] the jail,’” the complaint claims. “And Buzbee then gleefully announced to the world that one name on his ‘long list’ was Mr. Carter, claiming that he had engaged in criminal sexual assault.”
In a press conference, Buzbee responded to these allegation saying “the new claim is patently frivolous and will be dismissed.” He continued saying “I’ve never said a word about him. This is just another attempt to bully and intimidate me. It just won’t work.”
This marks just another chapter in the beef between Buzbee and Jay-Z. If you need the loaded history of all events leading to this point, The Root broke it all down.