The NFL appears to be backing Jay-Z and moving forward with their relationship amid a civil lawsuit filed earlier in December claiming that the Roc Nation CEO raped a 13-year-old girl.
During a Wednesday (Dec. 11) presser ahead of the Christmas Day games on Netflix, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked about the league’s association with Jay-Z and they don’t plan on changing anything in the coming months.
“We’re aware of the civil allegations and Jay-Z’s really strong response to that,” Goodell responded. “We know that litigation is happening now. From our standpoint, our relationship’s not changing with [Roc Nation], including our preparations for the next Super Bowl.”
Jay partnered with the NFL in 2019 to have Roc Nation produce entertainment events for the league including the famed Super Bowl Halftime Show, which Kendrick Lamar is slated to headline when the big game heads to New Orleans in February 2025.
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 Brooklyn rap mogul didn’t waste much time defiantly denying all of the allegations against him in a statement attacking Buzbee.
“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.”
Watch Roger Goodell’s full response below.
