This legal drama has taken another major turn.
A woman who accused Jay-Z of sexual assault has now reportedly recanted her allegations. The woman, identified in court filings as Jane Doe, previously made the claims in a lawsuit that gained major attention in December 2024.
Now, she says the allegations were false.
Talk about a plot twist.
According to a new court declaration, Jane Doe says she never met Jay-Z and that her claims against the rapper were not true. She also said she had disclosed certain mental health conditions to her legal team before Jay-Z was publicly named in the lawsuit.
“Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter never raped me. I have never met or spoken to Mr. Carter. Mr. Carter never engaged in any inappropriate conduct toward me whatsoever,” the woman wrote in the 11-page declaration filed in Manhattan federal court and obtained by Rolling Stone.
“There is no truth to any of my claims against Mr. Carter,” she continued under penalty of perjury. “I understand my false accusations have caused Mr. Carter immense pain, suffering, and damage that can never be fully undone.”
That detail has added another layer to a case that was already complicated.
The original allegations attracted enormous attention because Jay-Z is one of the biggest names in music. Once his name entered the lawsuit, the internet did what the internet does best: it exploded!
The lengthy declaration was filed Thursday along with a notice that Carter was voluntarily dismissing the woman as a defendant in his ongoing malicious-prosecution lawsuit against prominent lawyer Tony Buzbee and his Texas-based law firm. The Jane Doe said she was not promised and did not receive any compensation for the declaration.
“Our client maintains that she was a victim of sexual assault, but she was entirely mistaken in her allegations identifying Mr. Carter, and those allegations were false,” Jane Doe’s new lawyer in the malicious prosecution case, James Blair Newman, Jr., said in a statement. “Mr. Carter did not rape her, sexually assault her, engage in any inappropriate conduct towards her, and she has never met him. She sincerely and unconditionally apologizes to Mr. Carter and his family.”
For the public, it is another reminder that serious accusations should be treated carefully. Allegations deserve attention, but they also deserve scrutiny.
