On Sunday (Dec. 8), rapper and business mogul Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter) was accused in a lawsuit of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000 alongside Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Since then, Jay has publicly gone back and forth with Tony Buzbee, the Texas-based attorney who filed the suit. Buzbee has filed several lawsuits over the last few months from anonymous accusers who say Combs either assaulted or raped them. The suit aganst Jay is the first with another high-profile defendant.
In a statement posted to the Roc Nation X account on Sunday, Carter denied the allegations made against him after news of the lawsuit first broke.
“My lawyer received a blackmail attempt, called a demand letter, from a ‘lawyer’ named Tony Buzbee. What he had calculated was the nature of these allegations and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle,” the star wrote.
“No sir, it had the opposite effect! It made me want to expose you for the fraud you are in a VERY public fashion. So no, I will not give you ONE RED PENNY!!” Carter added.
The Tidal founder also added that his family may be affected by the filing.
“My only heartbreak is for my family. My wife and I will have to sit our children down, one of whom is at the age where her friends will surely see the press and ask questions about the nature of these claims, and explain the cruelty and greed of people,” he continued
However, Buzbee quickly responded with a statement to Fox 26 in which he gave his own sequence of events.
“Mr. Carter previously denied being the one who sued me and my firm. He even filed his frivolous case under a pseudonym. What he fails to say in his recent statement is my firm sent his lawyer a demand letter on behalf of an alleged victim and that victim never demanded a penny from him,” Buzbee said.
“Instead, she only sought confidential mediation. Since I sent the letter on her behalf, Mr. Carter has not only sued me, but he has tried to bully and harass me and this plaintiff. His conduct has had the opposite impact. She is emboldened. I’m very proud of her resolve. As far as the allegations in the complaint filed, we will let the filing speak for itself and will litigate the facts in court, not in the media.”
Buzbee also made an Instagram post Sunday evening that seems to respond directly to what he calls harassment over the Jay-Z suit, reminding folks that he’s a former Marine built to endure the madness.
“Despite a coordinated and aggressive effort that has included harassing my kids, contacting my clients and former clients to encourage them to sue me, contacting my colleagues or former employees asking if I’ve ‘abused’ them, showing up at my current employees’ homes to harass them, filing frivolous cases against me and my law firm, defaming me with outrageous assertions to anyone who will listen, and having mysterious people follow me and my family, I’m still THAT guy,” Buzbee wrote. “I won’t be bullied or intimidated.”
The accuser is seeking unspecified damages. The lawsuit against both Carter and Combs is filed under New York’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act.