Beyonce fans were left shocked after Forbes dropped husband Jay-Z’s last name from the star’s moniker days after he was accused of raping a teenager.
Jay-Z, 55, real name Shawn Carter, was accused in a lawsuit of raping a 13-year-old girl with Diddy at a party after the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. The rapper vehemently denied the accusations in a bizarre statement posted shortly afterward.
Forbes named Beyonce, 43, as one of the year’s most powerful women days after the allegations emerged, and listed her as ‘Beyonce Knowles’ instead of her official name ‘Beyonce Knowles Carter’ – leading fans to claim the move was a ‘soft launch name change.’
Others wrote: ‘lemme hear y’all say UH OH’, ‘this going viral – good luck babe’, ‘Nah don’t forget the Carter!!!’ and ‘This is blowing up—good luck, love!’
‘What’s coming next, I’m intrigued !!!’ and ‘everyone say heeeyyyy ms knowles.’
‘The soft launch name change is a clever way to tease something new!’
Beyonce fans were left shocked after Forbes dropped husband Jay-Z’s last name from the star’s moniker days after he was accused of raping a teenager – pictured December 9
The rapper, 55, was accused of committing the alleged child rape alongside Combs, 55, after the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards in a civil lawsuit filed Sunday – he has denied the allegations (Pictured: Diddy and Jay-Z in 2005)
Others defended the star saying: ‘Forbes has ALWAYS gone by just Beyoncé-Knowles. This is NOT new. Why are you trying to come up with a false narrative?
The couple are worth an estimated $3billion combined.
Beyonce has notably called herself ‘Mrs Carter’ for over a decade and toured under her married name.
Her most recent album was also named Cowboy Carter in a nod to her married name.
The unidentified victim who filed the suit against Beyonce’s husband, claims the alleged attack took place at a VMA’s afterparty in September 2000, while an unidentified female celebrity watched.
The victim previously referred to Jay-Z as ‘Celebrity A’ in the bombshell filing, with the female star accused of watching anonymized as ‘Celebrity B.’
This made Jay-Z the first celebrity to be named alongside Diddy in one of the myriad lawsuits filed against Combs. Both rappers have denied all allegations.
The accuser said she was assaulted at a party after the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, which took place September 7, 2000 at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall.
Forbes named Beyonce, 43, as one of the year’s most powerful women and listed her as ‘Beyonce Knowles’ instead of her official name ‘Beyonce Knowles Carter’ – leading fans to claim the move was a ‘soft launch name change’
Others defended the star saying: ‘Forbes has ALWAYS gone by just Beyoncé-Knowles. This is NOT new. Why are you trying to come up with a false narrative?’
Her most recent album was also named Cowboy Carter in a nod to her married name
Jay-Z pictured during the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in NYC, the event his accuser named in legal documents as preceding her assault
The accuser said Combs threw her ‘toward a wall,’ leading her to fall, then ‘grabbed her again and threw her on the bed.’
In the lawsuit, she said she took a drink at the afterparty which had ‘a reddish-yellow mixture that tasted like orange juice, cranberry juice, and something bitter’ and ‘began to feel woozy and lightheaded, making her need to lie down.’
She said she laid down in ‘what appeared to be an empty bedroom’, until Combs, Jay-Z and a female celebrity referred to as ‘Celebrity B’ entered the room.
‘Combs aggressively approached Plaintiff with a crazed look in his eyes, grabbed her, and said, “You are ready to party!”‘ legal documents read.
She said Jay-Z began stripping her down ‘as she grew more and more disoriented’ and held her down as ‘he vaginally raped’ her, while Combs and Celebrity B watched.
‘After [Jay-Z] finished, he stepped back toward the wall. Combs then stepped forward and vaginally raped Plaintiff while Carter and Celebrity B watched,’ the document reads.
The lawsuit had initially been filed in New York’s Southern District this past October against Combs, with a refiling on Sunday which identified Jay-Z.
Beyonce and Jay-Z have been an R&B power couple for more than 20 years. They got married in April 2008, and by April 2014, they had sold a combined 300 million records together.
They share three children together – Blue Ivy and six-year-old twins Rumi and Sir Carter.
But their relationship was rumbled in the early days by rumors that Jay-Z had cheated on her with his protege, Rihanna, and there was speculation that they went on a break for a time in 2005.
Jay-Z admitted to cheating on Beyonce in a New York Times interview published in 2017, but didn’t say who the betrayal was with.
Beyoncé has not been implicated in any of the Diddy lawsuits.
Jay-Z, 55, issued a blistering response to the lawsuit via DailyMail.com, accusing the victim of attempting to ‘blackmail’ him.
The rapper claimed he feared that his three children with Beyoncé would have to ‘endure’ harassment in the wake of the allegations.
Jay-Z said he is especially worried about Blue Ivy. He is afraid she will face questions from her friends about the lawsuit. The couple also share twins Rumi and Sir, seven.
‘My only heartbreak is for my family,’ Jay-Z told DailyMail.com on Sunday.
Jay-Z issued a lengthy statement Sunday denying the claims made in the re-filed lawsuit
‘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.’
Jay-Z said he mourned ‘yet another loss of innocence’ and declared that his ‘children should not have to endure’ the graphic accusations at their young age.
‘It is unfair to have to try to understand inexplicable degrees of malice meant to destroy families and human spirit,’ he said.
Tony Buzbee, who is representing the alleged Diddy victim from the 2000 VMA’s afterparty along with more than 100 others, also named Jay-Z as the celebrity who allegedly ‘filed a frivolous case under a pseudonym’ against their legal team.
The Texas-based attorney claimed Jay-Z has ‘tried to bully and harass’ him and his client over the incident said to have happened at a 2000 VMA’s afterparty – but this has backfired by ’emboldening’ them to take the case to court.
Tony Buzbee, who is representing more than 100 alleged Diddy victims, has now also named Jay-Z as the celebrity who allegedly ‘filed a frivolous case under a pseudonym’ against the accuser’s legal team
‘Regarding the Jay-Z case and his efforts to silence my clients: Mr. Carter previously denied being the one who sued me and my firm,’ Buzbee said in a statement.
‘He 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. 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, we will let the filing speak for itself and will litigate the facts in court, not in the media.’
