Woman who accused Jay-Z of raping her at 13 recants allegation

A woman who accused Jay-Z of raping her when she was 13 years old has formally withdrawn her allegation, stating that she has never met the rap superstar.

The woman, who has not been named, originally made the allegation in a lawsuit filed in 2024. In that filing, she claimed that Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, had drugged and raped her together with Sean Combs, the music mogul known as P Diddy. She alleged that the assault took place at a party following an MTV awards ceremony in 2000.

Her withdrawal marks a complete reversal of the central claim in the case. By stating that she never met Carter, she has contradicted the substance of her initial allegation from the outset of the litigation.

The lawsuit was later dropped, and the accuser has now formally disavowed the claim itself. Carter had denied the allegation since it became public.

The original filing linked Carter to Combs at a time when Combs faces his own mounting legal troubles. The 2024 complaint placed the alleged incident at an after-party for an MTV awards show in 2000, when the accuser said she was 13.

The recantation closes a chapter in one of the most high-profile legal battles involving a major figure in popular music. Carter, one of the most commercially successful rappers in history and a longtime fixture of the entertainment industry, had fought the allegation publicly since the suit was filed.

Whether the withdrawal will shape how similar high-profile celebrity cases are pursued — and how courts and the public weigh accusations later retracted — remains to be seen as the legal fallout around Combs continues.