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A woman who previously accused rapper Jay Z of raping her when she was 13 has formally withdrawn the allegation, stating in a court filing that the claims against the musician were false.
The woman, identified in court documents by the pseudonym Jane Doe, had filed a lawsuit in 2024 alleging that she had been drugged and sexually assaulted by Jay Z, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, and Sean "Diddy" Combs following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.
Both men denied the allegations. The woman later withdrew the lawsuit in February 2025, after which Carter filed a separate lawsuit against her and her former legal representatives.
In a declaration filed Thursday as part of that case, the woman explicitly rejected her previous claims against Carter.
"Shawn 'Jay Z' Carter never raped me," she stated. She also said she had never met or spoken to the rapper and that he had never behaved inappropriately toward her.
She further described her allegations that Carter and Combs had assaulted her while another celebrity watched as false.
The woman said she understood that her previous accusations had caused Carter and his family significant emotional and personal harm. She also stated that she had not received money from Carter or anyone representing him in exchange for making the new declaration.
Her account has now become a central issue in Carter's legal action against the lawyers who represented her.
Tony Buzbee, who represented numerous people making allegations against Combs, told Rolling Stone that he had not seen the new declaration. He said several lawyers had spoken with the woman before she became his client and that she had previously given them the same account.
Buzbee had previously accused Carter's investigators of repeatedly harassing and intimidating the woman after Carter launched his lawsuit. The woman has now rejected that claim as well, stating that she never received threats from Carter or anyone acting on his behalf.
In her latest declaration, she also provided an account of how the original allegations emerged. She said she encountered a Facebook advertisement in September or October 2024 seeking people who believed they had sexual assault claims involving Combs.
According to her statement, the advertisement triggered memories of an alleged assault from when she was 13. She was subsequently contacted by a law firm, but she said she was not shown or asked to approve the complaint before it was filed.
She accused the lawyers of filing the lawsuit without independently investigating or corroborating the allegations.
Combs also denied the original claims. His legal team previously criticised the lawsuit and questioned the motives behind the legal campaign.
The latest declaration changes the circumstances surrounding Carter's lawsuit, while the legal dispute involving his former lawyers remains ongoing.
