Jay-Z has filed a legal declaration against attorney Tony Buzbee, claiming the lawsuit harmed his reputation and cost him $20 million in lost income
[dropcap]J[/dropcap]ay-Z has taken legal action against Texas-based lawyer Tony Buzbee, accusing him of deliberately inflicting emotional distress by filing a lawsuit involving allegations from a Jane Doe.
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The lawsuit, lodged in the Los Angeles Superior Court on 10 February, claims that Jay-Z and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs raped the woman in 2000 when she was just 13 years old.
The rap mogul argues that Buzbee timed the lawsuit’s filing to coincide with the premiere of Mufasa: The Lion King, in which his daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, stars.
Jay-Z claims that this strategic move forced him to choose between attending the event to support his daughter or avoiding negative publicity.
“I was harshly criticised by others for accompanying my daughter to the premiere of her movie a day after Mr Buzbee filed the Jane Doe lawsuit against me,” Jay-Z stated in his court declaration, as reported by Deadline.
“Media outlets reported that Disney was hesitant over my attendance at the premiere because of the accusations.”
Beyond reputational damage, Jay-Z asserts that the lawsuit led to significant financial losses for his company, Roc Nation.
The filing states that the allegations negatively impacted business relationships in the sports and entertainment industry, causing Roc Nation to lose contracts worth approximately $20 million per year.
“Mr Buzbee’s actions undermined my relationship, and my company Roc Nation’s relationship, with other businesses in the sports and entertainment space,” the filing continues.
“We have agreements to produce entertainment programmes for certain sporting events. After Mr Buzbee filed the lawsuit, the media reported that other businesses could end their deals with Roc Nation.”
Jay-Z’s legal battle has sparked reactions, with sports commentator Stephen A. Smith addressing the issue on The Stephen A. Smith Show. Smith criticised those close to Jay-Z for failing to publicly defend him.
“Most of us would have let our lawyers handle this, we would have shut up and stood quiet,” Smith remarked. “And to the people that have smiled in Jay-Z’s face, supposed to be his friends, where are y’all at?”
He added: “You just gonna go silent and leave him hanging like that? Ain’t like he was silent. Ain’t like he was hiding and leaving others to talk for him.
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He spoke and said, ‘I’m innocent, this isn’t true,’ and nobody could stand up and say, ‘Nah, that’s not the brother I know.’”
