A woman identified as Jane Doe in court documents, who accused US rapper Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, of raping her at a party following the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000, when she was 13, has formally withdrawn her allegation, saying there is “no truth” to her claims.
In a 12-page declaration filed in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday, the woman said she had never met or spoken to Carter and that he never engaged in inappropriate conduct toward her.
“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,” she wrote.
“My claims that Mr Carter and Mr Combs raped me while a third celebrity, [name redacted] watched are false. There is no truth to any of my claims against Mr Carter.”
Doe also acknowledged the impact of her allegations on Carter.
“I understand my false accusations have caused Mr Carter immense pain, suffering, and damage that can never be fully undone,” she said.
She also said Carter or anyone representing him did not offer or give her any money in return for her statement.
The woman first filed the lawsuit against Combs in October 2024. Carter was added to the case in an updated complaint that December. She later chose to withdraw the lawsuit in February 2025.
Afterward, Carter filed a lawsuit against Doe and her former lawyers, including attorney Tony Buzbee. He accused them of malicious prosecution, defamation, and other offenses.
The rapper called the original allegations “frivolous, fictitious and appalling” and said his accusers were trying to blackmail him.
In her latest statement, Doe has been removed from Carter’s lawsuit, but the rapper’s case against her former lawyers is still ongoing.
Buzbee has denied any wrongdoing and said his firm believed Doe’s allegations when they took the case. Earlier this month, a California appeals court rejected Carter’s effort to bring back separate claims against Buzbee.
Carter, who is married to singer Beyoncé, has spoken before about how the allegations affected his family after Doe withdrew the lawsuit.
“The trauma that my wife, my children, loved ones and I have endured can never be dismissed,” he said in February 2025.