Law&Crime Sidebar - 7 Celebrity Reactions to Horrific Jay-Z Child Rape Allegation

Episode Date: December 15, 2024

An updated lawsuit names Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, as an accomplice in the rape of a 13-year-old girl. The alleged assault happened at a party thrown by Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is currently awaiting trial on racketeering and sex trafficking charges. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber takes a look at how Jay-Z’s fellow A-listers are reacting to the news.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/sidebar to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. It hasn't even been a full week since the shocking new sexual assault allegations against Jay-Z have come out. And already we are seeing quite the reaction from some pretty high-profile people. Let's see what some celebrities had to say about Sean Carter's legal development. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. So if you've been following us the past few days, you know that we have been reacting to and breaking down the absolutely disturbing and bombshell claims against Jay-Z, Sean Carter, in that federal sexual assault lawsuit.

An unnamed Jane Doe is accusing the rapper and business mogul of raping her at a VMA's after party back in 2000 when she was just 13 years old, a party thrown by. none other than Sean Niddy Combs, who she says also sexually assaulted her that night. In fact, she claims in her amended complaint, which now lists J.Z as the defendant, when it was first filed in October, by the way, he was only labeled as Celebrity A, but now he's had been identified as Sean Carter, J. Z. But in the complaint, it states, Combs then threw plaintiff toward a wall, causing plaintiff to fall. Plaintiff got up and stumbled, at which point Combs grabbed her again and threw her on the bed. At that point, Carter began removing plaintiff's clothes as she grew more and more disoriented. The complaint says that Jay-Z then raped this

teenager and then Diddy proceed to rape her as well. And by the way, this allegedly was in a bedroom while an unnamed female celebrity watched the assault. And this Jane Doe has sued both men for this alleged assault under the Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, which provides a look-back window to sue for claims that would otherwise be too old, barred by a statute of limitations issue. It just has to be a violent act that was motivated by someone's gender. So here the idea is that she was an underage girl. She couldn't consent. And remember, this all comes as Sean Combs is sitting in the MDC, the Metropolitan Detention Center, on federal sex crimes charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to

engage in prostitution, that he operated a criminal enterprise that engaged in a campaign of abusing women and using illegal methods to coerce people to engage in prolonged sex performances with male sex workers, aka freakoffs. And by the way, I have been so nonstop with so much breaking news in this ditty case that my life has been a little bit hectic. But I actually have this app that makes the day-to-day rewarding. That's the key word, rewarding, because it's called Upside. So get this. When I buy gas, groceries, food, my daily essentials, I could potentially get cashback using the free Upside app. Real cashback. Money that appears in your Upside app that you transfer right into your bank account. Look here. I used Upside to find a gas station. I claimed

an offer, pay with my credit card at the palm, follow the steps on the app. I got cash back. It is so simple to use it. You can use it at all different kinds of places, restaurants, convenience stores. So to find out how much you can earn, click the link in the description. to download upside or scan the QR code on screen and make sure to use our promo code sidebar and you'll get an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas. It wasn't just us reacting to this Jay-Z news. No, celebrities have been reacting to it as well. And I think a good place to start would be with rapper 50 cent. Why? Why him? Because he has already been quite vocal during the Sean Combs legal saga. For instance, after the raids by

federal agents on Combs' properties months ago before his arrest. 50 Cent posted on Instagram. Now, it's not Did He Do It? It's Did He Done. They don't come like that unless they got a case. And he has posted several memes mocking Combs' legal troubles. He also shared a video from someone on social media that called Combs too freaky for society. And when Combs was officially arrested, he took to Instagram. He posted a picture of him and Drew Barrymore and wrote,

Here I am keeping good company with at the Drew Barrymore show, and I don't have a thousand bottles of lube at the house. Obviously, a reference to the amount of lubricant and baby oil that prosecutors revealed were recovered from Sean Combs' properties. And in fact, I should also tell you that 50 Cent is reportedly working on a Netflix documentary about Combs' legal troubles. But when it comes to Jay-Z, what did he say? He said a few things, or he did a few things. So first, I should tell you that there doesn't appear. to be any love loss between the two of them, because back in the day, the two had a beef, at least through lyrics against one another. For instance, 50 Cent released a song, How to Rob, in

which he seems to suggest robbing Jay-Z, and Jay-Z put out a song called It's Hot, Some Like It Hot, in which he rapped, I'm about a dollar, what the F is 50 Cent. Now, although they had performed together in the past, maybe patch things up or look like things were okay, Doesn't really look like they're besties, because I mean in 2011, Fiddy told MTV News, we don't have those kinds of relationships. These people are people I associate with. We're in the same business. We're not necessarily friends.

We don't call each other for no reason. And I should tell you, if you had any doubt about their friendship, well, what did Fiddy Cent do just in the wake of this Jay-Z lawsuit? Well, he posted on Instagram a meme of him in a car, the caption, okay, I don't know what's going on, but are we going to still have the Super Bowl worried emoji? I'm just asking for a friend. That, of course, is in reference to the fact that for the last few years, Jay-Z and his company, Rock Nation, helped to produce the Super Bowl halftime show. But he really wasn't done there because you know how right after the lawsuit was

filed? I mean, less than 24 hours, Jay-Z, his wife, Beyonce, their 12-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, and Beyonce's mom, Tina Knowles, attention. the L.A. premiere of Mufasa, the Lion King. This is what we talked about in a previous sidebar. But now, in a deleted post on Instagram, 50 Cent, wrote, Jay said they said I raped a kid. Everybody get dressed. We're going to see Mufasa, seemingly poking fun at him for going to a movie premiere in the wake of these brand new allegations. Now, to be clear, Beyonce and Blue Ivy, both star in that movie. I don't think that they could have avoided the premiere, but maybe some would say you shouldn't have showed up. I don't know. But anyway, I will tell you.

you. I interviewed body language expert Susan Constantine about how Jay-Z appeared at that premiere and whether it told us anything based on his body language. Take a look. When I look at Jay-Z, you can see his lips pursed. That is a form of agitation. So when we look at that, when people purse or tighten their lips, it tells you a little bit about their cognitions. Maybe that he's not really enjoying this as much as he's portraying when he was walking on. And what I'm looking for is a cluster. I see a horizontal stressor right across his forehead, and then he has his hand in his pocket.

So we've got three things, which is a cluster. You would think that Jay-Z would have incorporated Beyonce into the mix by putting his arm around Beyonce's waist. We didn't see that here. So that's what I'm saying. There's almost like a separation of two different frames. Beyonce, of course, alliances are with her daughter. You can see her leaning her head towards her daughter.

Her daughter's out up front is almost on a princess type of positioning. So overall, when I'm looking at this, the mannequin type of stance that Tina has, the agitation that Jay-Z is concealing. So what I mean by that, it's not an outward or expression. It's actually micro-expressions of showing you what's some of cognition might be. But going back to 50 Cent for a second, you know what else? He apparently did because it didn't end there.

He apparently posts an AI generated video of Jay Z and Sean Combs in tuxedos getting arrested by police with the caption, I want to post this, but I'm afraid I'm going to get shot, LOL, laughing emoji. Now, one other thing I have to mention about 50 Cent before we go to other celebrities. So he sat down for an interview with personality, Big Boy. And it happened this week, and he addressed a lot of this. He said, I haven't had issues with Puff where I don't like him. I don't like things that he would do that make me uncomfortable.

And in terms of Jay-Z, he said, I just hope things are all right for him internally. I mean at the crib, because in the statement they mentioned that his daughter being old enough to, because she about 13, so it's the same age as these kids they say and he did something to. And he also said, the damage is already done by the allegation itself. And he even claimed that the NFL regarding the Super Bowl show, quote, will fall back in light of this lawsuit and they won't necessarily be associated to that, meaning the NFL, they won't necessarily stick with Jay-Z. Now, in terms of what he said about Jay-Z's home life, he seems to be referencing Jay-Z statement that was put out after the filing of this complaint. And the statement accused Jane Doe's attorney, Tony Busby, of trying to blackmail him to settle the case before. filing what he claims are false allegations. And he said the following, my only heartbreak is for

my family. My wife and I will have to sit our children down, one of whom is at the age where her friends will surely see the press and ask questions about the nature of these claims and explain the cruelty and greed of people. I mourn yet another loss of innocence. Children should not have to endure such at their young age. It is unfair to have to try to understand inexplicable degrees of malice meant to destroy families and human spirit. So that was basically what 50 Cent had to say so far. But going back to Tina Knowles, remember I mentioned her, I want to talk about her for a second and talk about her.

I don't want to say reaction to Jay Z's lawsuit because, as you'll see, she says this really wasn't her, but something very curious happened. There were reports that Tina Knowles liked an ABC 7 Chicago Instagram post about the lawsuit with the caption reading, Sean J. Z. Carter and Sean Diddy Combs are accused of raping a then 13-year-old girl at an after-party following the 2000 video music awards, according to an amended civil lawsuit that was filed Sunday. So did she really like that? Well, she says no. In an Instagram post, she denied liking the post, claiming her account was hacked, writing, as you all know, I do not play about my family. So if you see something uncharacteristic of me, just know.

that it is not me, and please stop playing with me. No weapon formed against my family shall prosper. Of course, as I mentioned, she attended the Mufasa premiere with Jay-Z and the family and looked in good spirits, so maybe that reaction wasn't really a reaction. But I will tell you who did react, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal. So let me stay at the stage for this one. So we go to the December 10th broadcast of Inside the NBA on TNT. and there is a discussion among the group of Kenny Smith, Ernie Johnson, Shaq, and Barkley

about who could face off against commentator Stephen A. Smith on the basketball court. So at one point, Charles Barkley says to Smith, you said the man isn't on your level. Stephen A played college basketball. Now Smith defends himself, says that he's a champ, and then he says to Shaq, listen, man, do you think Jay-Z or, and he starts to trail off. And before he can finish his thought, Barclay jumps in and goes, probably, not a good time right now. All the panelists start laughing. The crew in the background starts laughing. Smith jokes and says, you're silly man, you're silly man, while shaking his head. And then

Shaq gets up, walks off stage, and hides behind a pillar in a joking fashion, as Ernie Johnson says, go and see if you can fix the wall, will you, Shaq? Now, he ends up coming back to set without really further discussing Jay-Z. Just an interesting response, considering Jay-Z and Shaq have been photographed together through the years. But I guess what I'll say is just a lighter moment in what is a very, very serious and deeply disturbing set of allegations. Now, while that wasn't really specific what to make of that reaction, I will say who did get into specifics? Charlemagne. So he hosts the Breakfast Club. And he says the following, good for Hove. I'm glad Jay-Z responded just like that because this has been going on for too long. It is a grift. These accusers go to these

lawyers with all these salacious claims the lawyer will put more sauce on the salacious claims they reach out to your team say if you don't settle with us we're going to go public with these claims they'll tell you they're going to hold a press conference we're going to do interviews and a lot of people settle because they don't want the bad press and most people settle you'd be surprised how many people settle the court of public opinion makes everybody guilty so it makes a lot of people settle and hove said kiss my a i'm not settling and i don't blame him and then he went on to say at some point this litigious blackmailing and extortion has to stop. And he also added, what you hear is this, right? You hear the initial accusation, but you don't ever see when the

case gets dropped. You don't see when the case actually gets dismissed. That is a really interesting reaction. I mean, seemingly, he's not believing Jane Doe's claims or Tony Busby, at least as of now. And seemingly, he is praising Jay-Z and his lawyer's aggressive strategy. We've talked about this before. Jay-Z knew this lawsuit was going to be filed. He had that response prepared. He and his attorney have been actively fighting since this case got filed to get the case dismissed, and they've been arguing that Jane Doe should have to reveal herself, and to not do so is procedurally improper. They have even said the case should be thrown out. They've gone on the offensive calling Busby's actions extortion and blackmail, criticizing him for sending a demand

letter prior to him being named in the lawsuit. And apparently, Jay-Z filed his own lawsuit against Tony Busby, accusing him of extortion and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Now, some would say that Busby didn't do anything wrong, that a demand letter is very standard practice. You send the demand letter to try to settle the case or go to mediation, that is standard practice. But if Jay-Z is saying these claims against him are false, and this was just an attempt to settle

so he wouldn't be exposed. This isn't right, he says, and he's fighting it. I will say it'll be interesting to see if more lawsuits come out against Jay-Z. Because I will say, in his lawsuit against Tony Busby, he seems to indicate that Busby has accused him of misconduct, not just with respect to this Jane Doe, but at least one other person. And if he gets hit with more lawsuits, lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit, more allegations, things could change. Public perception could change. And you have to think about what happened with Sean Combs, right? He settles with Cassandra Ventura in her sexual assault lawsuit back in November of 2023,

but the day after she files it, after we've all seen the allegations, the allegations of rape, domestic violence, sex trafficking, then he settles. So what happens? The floodgates open. Combs is hit with lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit. He was just hit with three more lawsuits being brought by unidentified men. And it sure didn't help him that the 2016 video of him purportedly beating Cassandra Ventura in a hotel hallway was released by CNN because it gave more validity to the claims against him. And look, there are those who are praising Jay Z's strategy because this is the first accusation. He's never been accused of this in the past as far as my understanding is. And if he can convince the court that Jane Doe has to reveal her identity, then that may

cause her to abandon this lawsuit because she may not want to proceed in a very public lawsuit with so much sensitive details that for the whole world to know who she is. That could be a major win for Jay-Z. But the other way of looking at it is besides the fact that if other lawsuits come out, that might change the scenario. Busby has said that Jay-Z and his lawyers are not doing the right thing, that they're tactics of filing a lawsuit against him, accusing him of pressuring a different woman to alter her own sexual assault story

when she reported her claims to Busby. Yeah, there was that allegation, too, that she felt pressuring. by his firm to change her story. He's saying, Busby, all of this, he's saying that what Jay-Z and his lawyers are doing is potentially illegal and even defamatory. So you have two sides here, two sides of this. I will say, though, based on the trajectory of other Sean Combs' cases, there is a chance. Jane Doe. Here, the person suing Jay-Z will have to reveal her identity in the civil lawsuit.

I've talked about this before, but there is an argument that has worked in Sean Combs' cases. Look at the Anna-Cain situation, where Jay-Z would have a right to know. know who his accuser is. Challenge her. She brought this lawsuit after all. This is different from a criminal case where a Jane or John Doe are being called as prosecution witnesses. It's not their case. They didn't necessarily choose to bring the prosecution's case, but they're called as witnesses. They may have more grounds to say, I don't want to be identified, government. This is your case. Whereas here, do they have a right to remain anonymous when they are voluntarily filing a lawsuit against a very high-profile individual like a Sean Combs or a Jay-Z.

So anyway, bottom line, something to think about into context with Charlemagne's comments. But let's talk about comedian Andrew Schultz. He spoke about Jay-Z's situation on his flagrant podcast, and he was asked, do you think the Jay-Z thing just gets thrown out? To which he responded, yeah, he's innocent. Now, when he said, I couldn't tell if he's just joking around or he's being seen. serious, but he did say that Jane Doe's account was, quote, wonky, and this happened how many years ago? And then he also said, I don't know, bro, but he did also say, I hate that allegations

can automatically incriminate people. So kind of similar to Charlemagne, but you get a sense of where they both kind of stand in the early stages of this case. And by the way, if evidence should come out in this case that further supports Jane Doe's claims, I'm not necessarily saying a video like the 2016 video, but if something should come out that supports her claims, public opinion, that may change too. Celebrity reactions, that may change too. But while their statements are, you know, kind of clear, I will say someone else responded to the Jay-Z lawsuit.

And this was not only not entirely clear, I wasn't sure exactly what to make of it. I'm talking about rapper Meek Mill. Now, we'll get into what he said, but his name has been circulating a lot, mostly online. due to his reported connection to Sean Combs. His name has come up a lot in the past year. There was speculation that he was mentioned in one of the sexual assault lawsuits filed against Combs. This was the one filed by Combs' former producer Rodney Little Ra Jones who sued Sean Combs for sexual assault and sex trafficking. And in that lawsuit, Jones alleges that Combs admitted to him that he engaged in sexual intercourse with a, quote,

unidentified Philadelphia rapper who dated Nikki Minaj. There are those who have speculated online that that is Meek Mill. At the time, Meek Mill posted on X, one love to the gay people, but then talked about in graphic detail how much he loves women, particularly how much he loves a certain body part of or a certain part of the female anatomy. But now, in the wake of Jay-Z being named in the lawsuit, Meek Mill, who has collaborated and partnered with Jay-Z in the past, like on Get Rich, Smile Nile. Now, don't believe in dreams.

He seemed to address Jay-Z's legal issue because he wrote the following on X. The goal is to start false narrative to create a matrix web. If you can control the storyline, you can control the matrix. American media is totally unbelievable. I see Jay-Z blank a 13-year-old girl 300 times scrolling. It's called programming. So while I wasn't entirely clear what that meant, I actually spoke to Meek Mill's former lawyer Brian McMonigle this week. And here was his take on what Meek Mill meant. Well, I think

where Meek is going with this is probably something we've all seen for a long time and felt for a long time, which is anybody anywhere can say anything. And because of the way social media is today, it takes on a life of its own. And there are people who've never met you, don't know you, who are going to jump to conclusions about you because they can't open their phones up and not read something that's, you know, scandalous about you. And it takes a life of its own, and it can destroy you with a word. You know, there was a time when accusations had some scrutiny to them. You know, you had to be careful before you're pointing the finger at somebody.

Not anymore. Shoot first, ask questions later. And so I think that's his giant complaint, which is, where do I go to get my reputation back now? Who do I go to to defend this? what do I say? I didn't do it. That's not going to be enough because the doors already be open and opened by the scandalous accusations. I think that's where he's coming from. I think there's a lot of people who feel that way. So again, if that really is what was meant by that, it is similar to what we have been talking about so far with other reactions. But look, these are some celebrity

reactions to the Jay ZK so far. We will see what shakes up. What is interesting is that it is also the association to Sean Combs right now, who is very tight. toxic in the entertainment industry. That's what's problematic for Jay-Z. And in Jay-Z's filings, there is even an effort, at least to me, to separate his case, for example, in their argument that Jane Doe needs to reveal herself, Jay-Z's lawyers argue that she may claim Sean Combs made threats of violence in the past to people, that that might be a reason why she can't reveal herself. But Jay-Z has it, and especially not to her. He doesn't even know who she is. So you can't argue that her safety is at risk if she reveals herself because of Jay-Z. But the big picture

here is Jay-Z represented the first real high-profile celebrity, A-lister, who has been accused alongside Sean Combs. Again, this is a civil case, not criminal, but again, linked up to him in these sexual assault allegations. And according to Busby, there are other big names, too, that may or may not have already settled with him or who may or may not be named in future lawsuits. And by the real quick talking Sean Combs. Let me just end on this. As you know, we have been following all aspects of his criminal case. And I have one little update for you. You remember there was this whole back and forth about how and when he can use a laptop to review evidence in the case while he's locked up at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Well, I have an update for you from

Judge Arun Sub-Romanian who's overseeing this case. So he wrote in a recent order by Monday, December 16th, 2024 at 12 p.m. The parties should meet and confer and submit to the court. a joint letter listing the topics that they wish to discuss at the conference scheduled for December 18th, 2024 at 2 p.m. Now, by the way, that is a conference that we plan to cover live for you on Long Crimes YouTube channel. So I encourage everybody to check that out. We're going to do live analysis, real-time updates from court. Well, you're going to have a reporter Elizabeth Milner in that courtroom. But Sub-Romanian also orders that having reviewed the party submissions, the court orders as follows. One, the MDC is ordered not to turn over

defendant's attorney visitation forms to the government. So that was an issue. Combs lawyers argued that the facility shouldn't send over forms to the prosecution, letting them know when Combs was meeting with his lawyers. The defense argued that's privileged material. Number two, Subramanian also ordered that the MDC must give the defendant access to the discovery laptop seven days per week from 8 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. And this can be done in his unit's visiting room or in his unit's VTC room, the video teleconference room. Number three, the purpose of the discovery laptop is to review discovery, not to take or store notes.

It is the court's understanding that the laptop has been preloaded with discovery materials, but does not allow any functionality beyond reviewing those materials. If defendant wishes for broader access to the discovery laptop, his counsel should discuss the issue with the government, which should consider any reasonable proposals in good faith and work with Bureau of Prison Council and MDC staff to effectuate them. And that was about him wanting to take legal notes on the laptop. So it looks like that won't be allowed for now, but maybe there's an opening for the defense to have the government agree to that.

Now, Subramanian also writes, if there are further disputes, the court will consider, the court understands the filter team's position and does not require any further action from the filter team on the privilege issue. So that was with respect to the defense's contention that this filter team, these independent prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, that they improperly sent over privileged materials to the prosecution, to the prosecution actually handling Sean Combs' case, namely these photographs of writings from Sean Combs unit. And the filter team and the prosecutor said that Combs should send unredacted versions of these materials to the filter team so they can really see if there's a privilege issue and what those materials are. The defense objected to that. They asked for the court, Judge Suburbanian, to step in and review those materials.

So let's see where that all shakes up. But that's all we have for you right now. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. episodes of this long crime series, ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.