Rapper Jay-Z has denied "heinous" allegations that he raped a woman when she was a minor, calling the lawsuit an attempt at blackmail and extortion.
The artist, whose real name is Shawn Carter, vehemently rejected the complaint filed by lawyer Tony Buzbee, who accuses him of raping a woman when she was 13.
The lawsuit alleges the girl was drugged and raped by both Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs at a party hosted by Combs following the MTV Music Awards in 2000 in New York.
In a statement posted on his company Roc Nation's X account, Jay-Z said that the lawsuit was "a blackmail attempt" and part of a pattern of allegations, which have also been made against Sean Combs, known as Puff Daddy, who is also named in the lawsuit.
"What he (Buzbee) had calculated was the nature of these allegations and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle. No sir, it had the opposite effect! It made me want to expose you for the fraud you are in a VERY public fashion. So no, I will not give you ONE RED PENNY!!" the rapper said.
"My only heartbreak is for my family. My wife (Beyonce) 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," he said.
"Children should not have to endure such at their young age," he added.
Jay-Z and his singer-songwriter superstar wife Beyonce Knowles have two daughters and a son together.
The complaint, initially filed in October in the federal court of Southern District of New York and refiled on Sunday to include Carter, was reported by several US media outlets such as NBC and People magazine.
Combs, 55, is facing criminal proceedings in New York where he has pleaded not guilty to charges of coercing and systematically abusing women, allegedly with the help of his employees.
