This post contains details of a lawsuit involving sexual assault.
Amid sexual assault allegations that were recently made against Jay-Z, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the league's relationship with the rapper and media mogul on Wednesday.
"We are aware of the civil litigation and Jay-Z's strong response," Goodell answered when asked at his press conference at the NFL's Special League Meeting in Texas. "The relationship is not changing."
Said relationship includes business deals with Jay-Z's media company Roc Nation—who in the past has developed content for the NFL, including the past five Super Bowl halftime shows.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, doing his press conference, is asked about Jay-Z and the allegations: “We are aware of the civil litigation and Jay Z’s strong response.”
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 11, 2024
He summed it up: “The relationship is not changing.”
This past Sunday, Jay-Z's name was added to an ongoing rape allegation filed in the Southern District of New York. In said civil lawsuit, a woman alleges that she was raped by both Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs at an MTV Video Music Awards after party in 2000—when she was 13.
The rapper has since strongly denied the allegations, via a post through Roc Nation on X:
"My lawyer received a blackmail attempt, called a demand letter, from a "lawyer" named Tony Buzbee," wrote Jay-Z. "What he 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!!"
"My only heartbreak is for my family," he later continued. "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... I'm a young man who made it out of the project of Brooklyn. We don't play these types of games. We have very strict codes and honor. We protect children, you seem to exploit people for personal gain. Only your network of conspiracy theorists, fake physics, will believe the idiotic claims you have levied against me that, if not for the seriousness surrounding harm to kids, would be laughable. I look forward to showing you just how different I am."
— Roc Nation (@RocNation) December 9, 2024
Buzbee, the attorney who filed the suit, also represents at least 21 of the clients who have alleged sexual assault misconduct against Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Jay-Z's wife, Beyonce, is scheduled to perform at halftime of the upcoming Ravens vs. Texans game on Christmas Day in Houston.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Roger Goodell Addresses Jay-Z, NFL Relationship Amid Sexual Assault Allegations.
