Jay-Z and his legal team have opted against dropping a $20 million defamation lawsuit stemming from a December 2024 accusation of sexual assault made against him. Per Grouchy Greg Watkins of AllHipHop, the Jane Doe who made the allegation against Hov is now imploring the presiding judge to keep her identity anonymous.
Of course, you may remember Doe filing this lawsuit against Jay-Z nearly a year ago, alleging that he and Diddy raped her at a party following the 2000 MTV VMAs. Both men vehemently denied the allegations, and in February 2025, she dismissed the suit without prejudice.
The following month, an audio clip of Doe telling investigators that Tony Buzbee pushed her to sue leaked to the public. Buzbee has also been managing several civil suits against Diddy, and previously represented victims of NFL player Deshaun Watson. Jay then sued Buzbee and attorney David Fortney for defamation, saying that Buzbee knowingly filed a lawsuit about a false story and did so as part of an extortion attempt. A judge dismissed that suit in July. Still, the suit against Doe remains.
“From a psychiatric standpoint, the forced disclosure of her identity in this context would have catastrophic consequences for her mental health,” said Dr. John T. Olsen, Doe’s psychiatrist, about the possibility of publicizing her information. “Such public exposure would destabilize her current mental health recovery. The impact would likely be severe, with a high risk of exacerbation of her psychiatric symptoms, deterioration of her functioning, and a profound negative effect on her overall prognosis.”
Jay-Z Defamation Lawsuit
The judge has not yet made a ruling on if the Jane Doe can stay anonymous or not. However, Doe's team have also argued that there is no need for her name to become public knowledge, as Hov and his counsel already have her identity.
Even with her anonymity, Doe claims to be the victim of online hate mail and threats already. One can assume that publicizing her identity would only exacerbate any negative treatment she's already received. There has not been a date set for the next hearing just yet, though details on that are presumably imminent.
