The woman who accused JAY-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs of raping at a MTV VMAs afterparty in 2000 when she was 13 years old spoke about the alleged incident in a new interview with NBC News. While the woman, who has chosen to keep her identity anonymous, says she stands by the allegations, she also admitted that she made “some mistakes” in her recollections of the events. Now, JAY-Z and his attorney are pointing to those inconsistencies as proof that her entire story is fabricated.
In her original suit filed against Combs last October, and amended earlier this month to list JAY-Z as a co-defendant, she claimed that she traveled from Buffalo to attend the VMAs. She recounted being brought by limo to an afterparty at Diddy’s residence, where she drank a spiked drink, and awoke to find herself being assaulted by Diddy and JAY-Z. She claimed to have escaped to a local gas station, where she called her father who picked her up.
However, the woman’s father told NBC News that he has no recollection of picking up his daughter during the night in question (it would have been a five hour drive from Buffalo to New York City). “I feel like I would remember that, and I don’t,” the father said. “I have a lot going on, but I mean, that’s something that would definitely stick in my mind.”
The woman also claimed that she spoke to Good Charlotte band member Benji Madden at the party, but Madden was on tour in the midwest at the time. Publicly available images of the after party that Diddy and JAY-Z attended that night also don’t match the venue described by the woman in the lawsuit.
Responding to NBC News’ responding, JAY-Z’s attorney, Alex Spiro, blasted Tony Buzbee, the lawyer representing the accuser. “It is stunning that a lawyer would not only file such a serious complaint without proper vetting, but would make things worse by further peddling this false story in the press. We are asking the Court to dismiss this frivolous case today, and will take up the matter of additional discipline for Mr. Buzbee and all the lawyers that filed the complaint.”
In his own statement, JAY-Z added, “This incident didn’t happen, and yet he filed it in court and doubled down in the press. True Justice is coming. We fight FROM victory, not FOR victory. This was over before it began. This 1-800 lawyer doesn’t realize it yet, but, soon.”
For his part, Buzbee said the accuser was referred to him by another firm, “who vetted it prior to sending it to us. Our client remains fiercely adamant that what she has stated is true, to the best of her memory. We will continue to vet her claims and collect corroborating data to the extent it exists. Because we have interrogated her intensely, she has even agreed to submit to a polygraph. I’ve never had a client suggest that before.”
“In any event,” he added, “we always do our best to vet each claim made, just as we did in this case. This has been extremely distressing for her, to the point she has experienced seizures and had to seek medical treatment due to the stress.”
Buzbee has filed 20 other lawsuits against Combs alleging sexual misconduct.