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Jelly Roll was spotted shaking hands and smiling with president-elect Donald Trump at a UFC match New York City’s Madison Square Garden last month, leading to controversy surrounding the country star’s political opinions. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news However, Jelly cleared the air alongside his wife […]
Jay-Z’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, expects the rap mogul to be cleared of any wrongdoing in the coming days in the lawsuit filed earlier this month accusing him and Sean “Diddy” Combs of raping a 13-year-old girl at a 2000 MTV Video Music Awards afterparty.
Spiro hosted a press conference at Roc Nation’s headquarters in New York City on Monday afternoon (Dec. 16) where he defended his client’s innocence in the case while laying out a slideshow aiming to poke holes in the apparent inconsistencies of Jane Doe’s filing made by attorney Tony Buzbee.
Spiro chose not to unmask the now 38-year-old woman from Alabama who filed the complaint but chose to sharply criticize her case and her attorney. “This is not for truth and justice,” Spiro said. “This is for money.”
He continued: “When something isn’t real, when something doesn’t happen, you’re going to get the details wrong because you weren’t really there. [It’s] not possible. It’s because this never happened.”
According to her complaint earlier this month, the accuser got a ride from Rochester, N.Y. to New York City as a 13-year-old in 2000 to attend the MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall, where she remained outside and later came into contact with Diddy’s limousine driver.
Doe claims she was taken to a “large white residence” about 20 minutes from the award show venue where she was served a drink and then repeatedly sexually assaulted by Diddy and Jay-Z (born Shawn Carter) while another unnamed celebrity watched the rape take place. She says she then escaped the afterparty and made it to a gas station where she allegedly called her father to pick her up.
Jay-Z’s lawyer Alex Spiro hosted a press conference vehemently defending his client against the rape allegations made in the lawsuit. “It’s because this never happened,” he repeated. pic.twitter.com/XHfONUIMcd— LordTreeSa🅿️ (@LordTreeSap) December 17, 2024
But in an interview with NBC News on Friday, the accuser admitted to multiple inconsistencies in her story. And in the same story, her father admitted he can’t recall picking up his daughter following the alleged traumatic events 24 years ago. “I feel like I would remember that, and I don’t,” he said. “I have a lot going on, but I mean, that’s something that would definitely stick in my mind.”
At Monday’s event, Spiro focused on those seeming shortcomings in the story: “[Jane Doe] said she’s at the party alone, this 13-year-old girl, and she finds herself in the room with the three most famous people at the party — just think about how unnatural, how little common sense that makes. And according to her, one of the witnesses is a female celebrity who’s just standing there watching the repetitive rape of a child,” Spiro added. “There’s an adult female in the room watching the rape of a child. Afterward, she says she runs out of the house naked — none of them notice that? None of them pay any notice? For 24 years, none of them has said anything?”
While Jay-Z is named alongside Diddy, who will remain behind bars until his trial in May, Spiro attempted to distance Hov from the embattled Bad Boy CEO.
“Mr. Carter has nothing to do with Mr. Combs’ case or Mr. Combs,” he stated. “They knew each other professionally for a number of years. Just like in all professions, people know each other. At music awards, they support each other. They go to the NBA All-Star Game, they support each other. That’s just how professions work. There is no closer association between any of them — that’s also a matter of fiction.”
According to Spiro, Jay is “upset” about what he views as a baseless lawsuit. “He’s upset that somebody would be allowed to do this, would be allowed to make a mockery of the system like this,” he continued. “He’s upset that this distracts and dissuades real victims from coming forward. He’s upset that his kids and family have to deal with this. And he should be upset.”
In an earlier response statement, Jay-Z denied the allegations against him and called Buzbee a “deplorable human.” At Monday’s event, Spiro hinted at further legal action being taken against Buzbee, who he said “will be dealt with” separately following the lawsuit.
In an exclusive statement to Billboard on Tuesday (Dec. 17), Buzbee claimed that “Mr. Spiro has a history of making threats against opposing lawyers.”
Buzzbee continued: “We won’t be intimidated and will raise his conduct with the relevant entities. As for us, we will continue to conduct ourselves professionally. The only reason this dispute is in the public sphere is that Mr. Spiro filed a frivolous case against my firm and claimed extortion with absolutely no support for such an outlandish claim. We will file the appropriate paperwork in due course.”
Lily Allen has long been an open book about her mental and physical health, but in a new chat on her and Miquita Oliver’s Miss Me? podcast, the “LDN” singer said that she’s currently going through a rough patch that she was initially reluctant to discuss with her therapist.
“I don’t think that I lie in therapy, but I do often not talk about things I should be talking about,” the singer said in this week’s episode. “It’s not intentional. I’ve been going through a tough time over the last few months and my eating has become a real issue.” Allen said her eating issues have been going on for almost three years, but she only recently opened up about them to her therapist.
“She was like, ‘Why haven’t you mentioned it before?’” said Allen, who tagged her creative pursuits as a form of “performative therapy,” because she finds it easier to sing about those things than to have “honest, vulnerable” conversations with people she cares about. “It’s not because I have been lying about it. It’s just because it hasn’t seemed at the top of the list of important things that I needed to talk about. But obviously it is.”
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Acknowledging that she sometimes struggles to paint the “big picture” when looking at her mental health — which, she noted, might have to do with her ADHD diagnosis — Allen said, “My body and my brain are two very separate things to me. I know a lot of people feel those two things are very connected to each other, but for me, it’s very different. I spend a lot of time in my head, and not a lot of time thinking about my body.”
Allen then got very candid about her current state of mind and the ways that has manifested physically. “I’m really not in a great place mentally at the moment, and I’m not eating. But I’m not hungry,” she said. ” I obviously am hungry, but my body and brain are so disconnected from each other that my body… the messages of hunger are not going from my body to my brain. I’m not avoiding food, I’m just not thinking about it because I’m so in my head. My body’s like, a few steps behind me.”
Allen, 39, married Stranger Things actor David Harbour in 2020 and has two daughters, ages 13 and 10, with her ex-husband Sam Cooper.
Oliver reminded her pod partner and lifelong friend Allen — who said that she did family therapy when she was young when her mom went tor rehab and then returned to therapy as an adult to deal with the initial rush of fame –that her awareness of what’s going on in her body is one step toward healing, a message the singer appreciated. In 2021, Allen opened up about her long battle with addiction, which she said started in school whens she turned to drugs and alcohol to deal with the resentment she felt from her classmates when she dropped out to pursue music.
Allen revealed her ADHD diagnosis in 2023, saying it “sort of runs in my family,” after sharing that she was suffering from PTSD after a stillbirth in 2010.
In July, Allen revealed that she had begun selling pictures and videos of her feet on OnlyFans, later saying that just a few months in she was earning more with her toes than her music streams. “imagine being and artist and having nearly 8 million monthly listeners on spotify but earning more money from having 1000 people subscribe to pictures of your feet,” she wrote in October.
Listen to the episode below (food discussion begins at 9:55 mark).
If you or someone you know are struggling with disordered eating or an eating disorder you can contact the ANAD helpline at 1 (888) 375-7767 or the National Alliance for Eating Disorders at 1 (866) 662-1235.
The Spanish flamenco singer Diego “El Cigala” was sentenced to two years and one month in prison for abuse committed against his ex-partner, flamenco singer Kina Méndez, according to Spanish media including newspapers El País, El Mundo and El Diario de Jerez. The sentence, which can be appealed, was announced on Tuesday (Dec. 17) by the press office of the High Court of Justice of Andalusía (Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Andalucía).
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“The judge imposes the sentence for three crimes in the field of violence against women committed in Jerez de la Frontera and a hotel in Palafrugell (Girona), and also finds him guilty of another minor and continuous offense of harassment in the domestic sphere, imposing 25 days of a permanent location, always in a different residence and away from the victim’s residence, in addition to the prohibition of communication and approaching within 200 meters of the victim for six months, a measure common to the rest of the other crimes,” according to El País.
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The conviction would correspond to three specific episodes of abuse, El País reports. The first, dating from the summer of 2017, was in a hotel in Jerez de la Frontera, where he “slapped her in the face” during a discussion on “the common areas” because she had asked him to stay with her son instead of going out. The second, two years later in another hotel in Palafrugell (Girona), was “in the context of a heated verbal confrontation,” when the singer “gave her a push that made her fall to the ground, and while [she was] lying on the ground, continued hitting and kicking her body,” according to El Mundo. The third case of abuse occurred in November 2020, when, while at the house in Jerez de la Frontera, he “grabbed Méndez by the neck,” shouting, “I’ll s–t on your ancestors” because she had reproached him for using drugs in front of their children, El País reports.
Billboard Español has reached out to Diego El Cigala for comment.
During the trial in Jerez, Diego “El Cigala” declared Nov. 7, “I have never laid a hand on a woman,” according to El Diario de Jerez. Méndez, whose real name is Dolores Ruiz Méndez, said at the same hearing that she never went to the doctor with her injuries because she wanted to patch things up with her partner, with whom she said she was always “very much in love,” and that she did not report him before “out of shame.”
Diego “El Cigala,” 55, is one of the most recognized flamenco singers of recent years in Spain and abroad. Winner of five Latin Grammys, his hits include “Si Tú Me Dices Ven,” “Moreno Soy” and “Lágrimas Negras.”
In 2021, the artist, whose real name is Ramón Jiménez Salazar, was already under investigation for alleged gender violence following accusations made by Méndez, who, according to El País, had been in a relationship with El Cigala since 2014.
A federal judge says Sean “Diddy” Combs can’t prove that prosecutors leaked the infamous 2016 surveillance video of him assaulting his former girlfriend Cassie – and is refusing to launch an investigation into his claims that the government is waging a “campaign” of such leaks.
In an order issued Monday, Judge Arun Subramanian denied Combs’ request for discovery and an evidentiary hearing into those allegations. Combs had argued that prosecutors were using media coverage to “taint the jury pool” and deprive him of a fair trial.
Most notably, the judge said that Combs had failed to show that government agents leaked the Cassie video, saying the accused mogul “doesn’t point to any sound basis for this conclusion.”
“Combs never considers the possibility that many people beyond Victim-1 and government agents likely had access to the video, including Combs’s team (who paid security officers at the Intercontinental Hotel “$100,000 in cash to destroy” the video) and hotel employees and contractors,” the judge wrote.
Though he denied the request from Combs’ legal team, the judge also reiterated previous warnings to prosecutors to closely safeguard grand jury materials and avoid sharing other improper information with the press.
“The court is sensitive to Combs’s concern about the publication of stories claiming to disclose inside information about this case from unnamed ‘federal law enforcement sources who are involved in the investigation,’” the judge wrote.
“The court has already taken steps in this regard, and it is open to tailored applications for relief as this case continues,” the judge added. “The court once again reminds the government and its agents that if specific information comes to light showing that they leaked prohibited information, action will be taken.”
Combs was indicted in September, charged with running a sprawling criminal operation aimed at satisfying his need for “sexual gratification.” The case centers on elaborate “freak off” parties in which Combs and others would allegedly ply victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex, as well as on alleged acts of violence to keep victims silent.
A trial is currently set to start on May 5. If convicted on all of the charges, Combs faces a potential life prison sentence.
The star’s legal team has spent months seeking to have him released on bail until the start of the trial. But after multiple failed attempts, his attorneys on Friday dropped their appeal of the bail issue, meaning the hip-hop mogul will remain behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn until the trial kicks off.
In October, Combs’ attorneys warned the judge that there had been “a series of unlawful government leaks” in the case, leading to “damaging, highly prejudicial pre-trial publicity that can only taint the jury pool and deprive Mr. Combs of his right to a fair trial.”
The filing called the Cassie video – a clip that made headlines when CNN first aired in May — the “most egregious example” of such leaks, arguing it had been done in order to “mortally wound the reputation and the prospect of Sean Combs successfully defending himself.”
“Rather than using the videotape as trial evidence, alongside other evidence that gives it context and meaning, the agents misused it in the most prejudicial and damaging way possible,” Diddy’s lawyers wrote at the time. “The government knew what it had: a frankly deplorable video recording of Sean Combs in a towel hitting, kicking and dragging a woman in full view of a camera in the hallway of the hotel.”
In a response weeks later, the government sharply denied those claims – and accused Combs’ lawyers of using such allegations as a ploy to “suppress a damning piece of evidence.”
“Without any factual basis, the leak motion seeks to suppress highly probative evidence … by claiming that it was grand jury material leaked by government agents,” prosecutors write. “But, as the defendant is fully aware, the video was not in the Government’s possession at the time of CNN’s publication and the Government has never, at any point, obtained the video through grand jury process.”
Sure, the sun will come out tomorrow, but for right now, viral comedian Randy Rainbow isn’t looking forward to a new day dawning on Donald Trump‘s presidency. In his latest parody video, Rainbow sits down for another faux interview with the president-elect, this time mocking Trump for his widely criticized cabinet picks, specifically calling out […]
Northampton rapper Slowthai has been cleared of raping two women after one of his shows. The 29-year-old (real name Tyler Frampton) had previously been accused of sexually assaulting them following his performance at The Bullingdon in Oxford in September 2021.
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Frampton and his co-accused, Alex Blake-Walker, were both found not guilty on three joint counts of rape following a trial at Oxford Crown Court. Blake-Walker was also cleared on one count of sexual assault. The not guilty verdict was announced Monday (Dec. 16) following 10 hours of deliberation by the jury.
The BBC reports that Frampton broke down in tears when the verdict was announced, and that there were gasps in the public gallery.
The trial heard that Frampton and his friends were invited to a party in Oxford following the conclusion of his show. The prosecution alleged that Blake-Walker had raped one woman at the encouragement of Frampton, who was then accused of twice raping a second complainant.
During the trial, Frampton said that sexual activity had taken place between him and the second complainant, but insisted that it had been consensual. “I know she was consenting, there wasn’t a question,” the BBC reports that he said during the trial.
Frampton and Blake-Walker had previously denied all the charges, and said the two women consented to all sexual activity.
The updates came after prosecutor Heather Stangoe warned jurors in the closing argument not to be “Wagatha Christies” in their deliberations, referencing the infamous legal battle between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney in their 2022 libel case in the U.K.
The presiding judge, Ian Pringle, asked jurors to “lay aside any feelings of sympathy or dislike” and make their decision in a “calm and cool manner,” adding that they “must be sure of guilt” if they were to convict the two men.
Patrick Gibbs KC, the lawyer defending Frampton, said in court that there were a dozen “problems” with accusations outlined. He added that Slowthai isn’t “everybody’s stereotype of a rapper,” describing him as a “thoughtful and modest” man who “throws himself, sometimes recklessly, into life.”
Also in the court proceedings, Blake-Walker’s lawyer Sheryl Nwosu, said that the evidence outlined “doesn’t fit with Mr Blake-Walker and his behaviour on the night,” while Judge Pringle said the case was a “question of consent.”
Frampton had been accompanied by his wife, pop star Anne-Marie, throughout the trial, which was held at Oxford Crown Court.
Frampton released his most recent album, Ugly, under his Slowthai moniker in 2023. Following the announcement of the charges that year, he was dropped from festival lineups for Glastonbury Festival and Reading & Leeds.
Jay-Z’s attorneys have written a letter to a New York courthouse revealing that the rapper intends to “immediately” file a motion to strike a recent complaint accusing him of raping a teenager 24 years ago.
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In the letter obtained by Billboard, the legal team cited a new NBC report on Friday night (Dec. 13), in which the accuser — identified as Jane Doe in the lawsuit filed against Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter) and Diddy — recalled the “catastrophic event,” while also acknowledging a number of inconsistencies in her original account. “I have made some mistakes,” she shared, noting that while she still stands by her accusations, there are a few details that are unclear.
One of the inconsistencies is that the woman originally said her father picked her up after the assault, but he denied that. She also claimed she spoke to singer Benji Madden at the event, though he wasn’t in New York at the time of the party.
The letter from Jay-Z’s attorney took aim at Doe’s attorney Anthony Buzbee. “Given today’s relevations, Mr. Buzbee almost certainly failed to undertake a reasonable inquiry into the facts before filing the complaint,” the message reads. “He should never have brought the claims.”
The letter concludes by noting that Jay “intends to file immediately a motion to strike the first amended complaint.”
In a press statement, Jay-Z echoed the sentiments of his attorney. “Today’s investigative report proves this ‘attorney’ Buzbee filed a false complaint against me in the pursuit of money and fame. 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.”
His lawyer Alex Spiro added, “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.”
Over the weekend, Jay-Z was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000 at an MTV Video Music Awards afterparty alongside Diddy. The shocking civil case was filed by an anonymous accuser and Texas attorney Tony Buzbee, whom Jay called a “deplorable human.”
The rapper also denyied all of the allegations against him when news broke. “You have made a terrible error in judgement thinking that all ‘celebrities’ are the same,” Jay-Z said. “I’m not from your world. I’m a young man who made it out of the projects 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 … 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.”
Jay-Z continued: “My only heartbreak is for my family. 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.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs has dropped his appeal to be released on bail, according to court documents filed on Friday (Dec. 13). The voluntary dismissal means the hip-hop mogul will remain behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn until the start of his criminal trial in May. “Mr. Combs does not seek to appeal […]
Paula Abdul and former “American Idol” producer Nigel Lythgoe have agreed to settle a lawsuit in which she alleged he sexually assaulted her in the early 2000s when she was a judge on the show.
Abdul filed a notice of settlement of the case in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday. It still must be approved by a judge.
“I am grateful that this chapter has successfully come to a close and is now something I can now put behind me,” Abdul said in a statement Friday. “This has been a long and hard-fought personal battle. I hope my experience can serve to inspire other women, facing similar struggles, to overcome their own challenges with dignity and respect, so that they too can turn the page and begin a new chapter of their lives.”
In his own statement, Lythgoe said, “We live in a troubling time where a person is now automatically assumed to be guilty until proven innocent, a process that can take years. That is why, like Paula, I am glad to be able to put this behind me. I know the truth and that gives me great comfort.”
The court filing said the settlement was unconditional, but did not reveal the terms, and Abdul’s attorney Melissa Eubanks said she could not comment on them.
The lawsuit filed nearly a year ago had also accused Lythgoe of sexually assaulting Abdul after she left “American Idol” and became a judge on Lythgoe’s other competition show, “So You Think You Can Dance.”
Lythgoe said at the time that he was “shocked and saddened” by the allegations, which he called “an appalling smear.”
After other lawsuits were filed alleging sexual misconduct, Lythgoe stepped down in January from his role as a judge on “So You Think You Can Dance.”
The 75-year-old English-born producer has been a prominent TV producer for decades in both the U.K. and the U.S., working on reality competition shows including “American Idol.”
The Associated Press generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, as Abdul has done.
Abdul, a Grammy and Emmy-winning singer and dancer, said in the lawsuit that she remained silent for years about the alleged assaults out of fear of retaliation by “one of the most well-known producers of television competition shows.”
She alleged that the first sexual assault occurred while Abdul and Lythgoe were on the road filming auditions for an early season of “American Idol,” which premiered in 2002.
Abdul says Lythgoe groped her in the elevator of their hotel after a day of filming and “began shoving his tongue down her throat.” Abdul pushed him away and ran to her hotel room when the elevator doors opened.
“In tears, Abdul quickly called one of her representatives to inform them of the assault,” the lawsuit says, “but ultimately decided not to take action for fear that Lythgoe would have her fired.”
Abdul starred as a judge for the first eight seasons, leaving in 2009.
In 2015, Abdul became a judge on “So You Think You Can Dance,” appearing alongside Lythgoe.
Around that time, Abdul alleged in the lawsuit, Lythgoe forced himself on top of her during a dinner at his home and tried to kiss her. Abdul said she again pushed Lythgoe away and immediately left.
Abdul left that reality show after two seasons. She has not worked with Lythgoe since.
In a statement at the time of the suit, Lythgoe said “While Paula’s history of erratic behavior is well known, I can’t pretend to understand exactly why she would file a lawsuit that she must know is untrue.”
This story was originally published by The Associated Press.