Jay-Z‘s lawyer doubled down on claims of his client’s innocence on Monday, while disputing the timeline behind a rape accusation that has been leveraged against the music industry titan.
Alex Spiro, the lawyer representing Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter as he faces a civil lawsuit alongside fellow music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, held a press briefing with handpicked reporters in New York City on Monday.
In that briefing, Spiro outlined what he says are inconsistencies in the timeline account of Jay-Z’s accuser, who was 13 years old at the time of the alleged sexual assault.
The plaintiff, who claims in her lawsuit Jay-Z and Sean Combs assaulted her at the after-party of the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000, has acknowledged inconsistencies with her account. However, she has stood by her allegations.
“Obviously Jay-Z did not rape a child,” Spiro said.
He added that he expects the case to be dismissed.
“If it’s not, eventually this will all crumble, because it can’t possibly have happened mathematically,” he said. “You don’t even need witnesses. They don’t have any witnesses because this never happened and you don’t need witnesses because the time doesn’t work. There’s literally photographic evidence that proves that this could not have happened.”
Spiro said that, according to the accuser’s account, she arrived at the residence, mingled with several celebrities, had a drink, was sexually assaulted twice, fought with Combs and then left the residence naked, all within a 37-minute period.
“She had 37 minutes to possibly do this even under their account, OK?” he said. “And of course, the biggest problem perhaps of all is there’s photographs putting Mr. Combs and Mr. Carter at different places, not in a white house during that 37 minutes. So when I tell you that it’s not just that this story is a lie and that it’s not true, it’s provably demonstrably false. This never happened.”
Spiro pointed out several parts of the accuser’s timeline that he says cannot be factual, asserting the following:
- The home where she says the assault occurred 20 minutes from Radio City Music Hall; Spiro claims it does not exist and Jay-Z was photographed at a VMAs after-party inside a club.
- Sean Combs and Jennifer Lopez were photographed at two commercial clubs after the VMAs, and Jennifer Lopez did an outfit change after the VMAs.
- The victim claimed she spoke with musician Benji Madden at the after-party. He was not there; he was on tour in the Midwest.
- The victim claimed she watched the VMAs from a jumbotron outside the awards; MTV did not have a permit for jumbotrons in 2000, according to NYPD and a producer of the show.
- The victim claimed she approached limos outside of the VMAs, but the street was blocked off and there was an Eminem performance on the street.
- The victim claims her father picked her up from the gas station and drove her home; NBC News reported her father does not remember this and lived five hours away at the time.
- The victim claims a friend drove her to Manhattan, after sneaking out of a window. It could not be corroborated, and the alleged friend is supposedly deceased.
Spiro said Jay-Z is upset by the accusations levied against him in the lawsuit.
“He’s upset that somebody would be allowed to do this, that would make a mockery of the system like this. He’s upset that this distracts and dissuades real victims from coming forward. He’s upset that his kids and his family have to deal with this,” the attorney said.
He added that Jay-Z knew Combs professionally, but: “Mr. Carter has nothing to do with Mr. Combs’ case or Mr. Combs. They knew each other professionally for a number of years. Just like in all professions, people know each other at the musical awards. They support each other.”
In an emailed statement to The Associated Press on Monday, the lawyer representing the alleged victim, Tony Buzbee, said the woman had been referred to him by another law firm and vetted by four attorneys from his firm. “Courts exist to resolve factual disputes,” Buzbee said. “Our client remains adamant about her claim.”
ABC News has reached out to Buzbee for a comment.
In November, Jay-Z attempted to have the woman’s identity revealed or the suit dismissed; however, a judge ruled that she had sufficient cause to remain anonymous.
Her case was originally filed in October against Combs; at the time, Jay-Z was only identified by the pseudonym Celebrity A. His identity was revealed when a civil lawsuit was brought against him in December.
“He doesn’t know anything about the charges or allegations against him,” Spiro continued. “He has nothing to do with that case.”
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
