Jay-Z has been spotted seemingly wiping away a tear amid allegations of sexual assault while his daughter was photographed at the Mufasa: The Lion King premiere.
The Grammy-winning rapper and business mogul vehemently denied allegations Sunday evening after being named in a federal lawsuit that accuses him and Sean "Diddy" Combs of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in 2000. The accuser says she was attacked by the two rappers at an after-show party following the Video Music Awards.
A day after the news broke, Jay-Z and Beyoncé supported their daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, by attending the Los Angeles premiere of Mufasa: The Lion King on Monday night. The 12-year-old voices Kiara, the daughter of Beyoncé's Nala and Donald Glover's Simba, in the prequel to Disney's 2019 photo-realistic adaptation of The Lion King.
Now the X account (formerly Twitter) belonging to the website Entertainment Tonight posted a video of the family hitting the red carpet at the event. At the beginning of the clip, Jay-Z and Beyoncé cheer on Blue Ivy while she poses for photographs. Then, the rapper seems to wipe away a tear as they watch their daughter before joining her in front of the media wall.
Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for Jay-Z for comment on Tuesday outside of normal business hours.
"Jay-Z and Beyoncé hype up daughter Blue Ivy on the red carpet at the LA premiere of 'Mufasa: The Lion King,'" the caption reads. At the time of writing, it had been viewed more than 360,000 times.
People have taken to the comments to their thoughts. Some have criticized Jay-Z being at the event, while others have shared their support for Blue Ivy.
One person wrote: "before all the haters get here to post a negative a comment. Blue is so pretty and they look so proud of her."
"Blue is such a star," posted another.
"Acting like you weren't just accused of raping a little girl as young as your daughter can't be easy on family night. I have no clue if the allegations are true, but being close friends with an alleged human trafficker and then having the child rape allegation leveled against you and that alleged human trafficker, sure ain't ideal," someone else commented.
According to the anonymous plaintiff, "Jane Doe," the assault allegedly happened after she was driven to an after-party for the MTV Video Music Awards. She was required to sign what she believed was a nondisclosure agreement, per the lawsuit.
The federal lawsuit was originally filed in October in the Southern District of New York by Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee, listing Combs as a defendant. It was refiled Sunday to include Jay-Z, whose legal name is Shawn Carter.
Jay-Z denounced the lawsuit as a "blackmail attempt" and took aim at Buzbee in a statement issued via his Roc Nation social-media account and agent Jana Fleishman.
"My lawyer received a blackmail attempt, called a demand letter, from a 'lawyer' named Tony Buzbee. What he had calculated was the nature of these allegations and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle," Jay-Z said.
"I have no idea how you have come to be such a deplorable human Mr. Buzbee, but I promise you I have seen your kind many times over. My heart and support goes out to true victims in the world, who have to watch how their life story is dressed in costume for profitability by this ambulance chaser in a cheap suit."
In response to the statement, Buzbee told Newsweek: "Mr. Carter previously denied being the one who sued me and my firm. He even filed his frivolous case under a pseudonym. What he fails to say in his recent statement is my firm sent his lawyer a demand letter on behalf of an alleged victim and that victim never demanded a penny from him. Instead, she only sought a confidential mediation."
Buzbee added: "Since I sent the letter on her behalf, Mr. Carter has not only sued me, but he has tried to bully and harass me and this plaintiff. His conduct has had the opposite impact. She is emboldened. I'm very proud of her resolve. As far as the allegations in the complaint filed today, we will let the filing speak for itself and will litigate the facts in court, not in the media."