Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley were forced to halt Good Morning Britain today (December 9) as they announced some “breaking news”. Returning from the break, the ITV presenters shared that rapper Jay-Z is facing some serious allegations.
Speaking into the camera, Susanna said: “Our main news this morning, rapper Jay-Z has been accused in a civil lawsuit for assaulting a 13-year-old girl after the MTV Music Awards back in the year 2000, alongside Sean Diddy Combs.”
Richard added on to the report, saying: “Well Jay-Z, who’s real name is Shawn Carter, is married to the singer Beyonce. In a statement published over night he dismissed the allegations as ‘idiotic’.
“He also said ‘my only heart break is for my family’.” The host then passed the report on to a journalist who was over in the States, Noel Phillips.
Richard continued: “Jay-Z is pushing back hard on these allegations. But what more do we know this morning?”
The US reporter shared that a teenager had alleged in a 21-page court document that she was “drugged and sexually assaulted” by the music star, “almost 24 years ago.” He added that the unnamed woman claimed that an anonymous female, “described as celebrity B” was “present” while the alleged actions unfolded, within the papers.
Jay-Z, 55, has been the first person to be named, besides Diddy, in such allegations. Noel continued: “As I say though, he has been speaking out strongly to deny the allegations.”
He went on to read a quote from his statement, which read: “These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one. Whoever may commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree?”
As the report went on, people on social media who were watching the show seemed more impressed that ITV had corrected a former error. Earlier in the show they had described Jay-Z as a “wrapper”, rather than a “rapper”.
Posting to X/Twitter, one user wrote: “Glad you changed the spelling from ‘wrapper’!!!” While another echoed: “Took 10 minutes to correct it. No one awake at @GMB.”
Meanwhile a third added: “Well done for learning how to spell ‘rapper’.”
Jay-Z has denied all claims against him.