As Diddy awaits his sex-trafficking trial, speculation around his many celebrity connections rages on. Two people who would very much prefer not to be dragged in are Jay-Z and Beyoncé, whose legal team was quick to spring into action when singer Jaguar Wright hurled some unfounded allegations their way during a recent episode of Piers Morgan’s Uncensored show.
On October 2, Wright appeared on Uncensored to talk about Diddy’s arrest and the allegations surrounding him. “For four years I’ve been screaming not just Diddy, but Diddy and Jay-Z are monsters,” she said, “and the victim-making machine kept going on.” Wright made a handful of outlandish statements, calling the Me Too movement a “ruse” and a “scam” and claiming (without evidence) that Jay-Z bankrolled Surviving R. Kelly as a power play, before turning her attention to Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s relationship with Diddy and claiming they, too, had “victims.”
It seems Jay-Z and Beyoncé — or at least someone on their surely robust legal team — were not about to take those accusations lying down. TMZ claims they’re “livid” about the interview, and during a Tuesday episode of his show, Morgan issued a rare apology, which he claimed was prompted by legal action from the Carters. “When Jaguar Wright unexpectedly made several serious allegations about Jay-Z and Beyoncé during that interview, they were not present to respond or defend themselves,” Morgan said. “Their lawyers contacted us to say that those claims were totally false and have no basis in fact, and we’ve therefore complied with their legal request to cut them from the original interview.” He added, “Editing interviews is not something we do lightly at a show called Uncensored, but like the proverbial cries of ‘Fire!’ at a crowded theater, there are legal limits on us too. We apologize to Jay-Z and Beyoncé.”
The legal campaign didn’t stop there. On Wednesday, Jay-Z’s longtime attorney Alex Spiro appeared on TMZ to condemn Morgan’s interview. “There’s rumors and then there’s nonsense and this is one step further,” said Spiro, who is also currently defending Eric Adams against bribery and wire-fraud charges. Spiro clarified that his team did not send Morgan a cease-and-desist order but an “ultimatum: Remove the accusation that’s demonstrably false or a court’s gonna order you to.” In airing Wright’s claims, he went on, Morgan “didn’t just harm the Carters. What he did was to drown out the voices of actual victims.”
While Wright’s claims appear to be unsubstantiated, Jay-Z does have documented ties to his fellow music mogul Diddy. The two collaborated a few times in the ’90s, and Jay-Z was, like so many other celebrities, a regular at Diddy’s White Parties, one of which he co-hosted. (Beyoncé doesn’t seem to have been pictured at any of them but is reported to have been on the guest list.) In turn, Diddy was also a frequent guest at Jay’s exclusive Roc Nation brunches.
The Cut has reached out to Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s representatives for further comment and will update this post if we hear back.
This post has been updated.