This week, Jacki and Lyle are discussing a story that has dominated the news in the U.S. and all over the world - allegations levelled at Jay-Z that, along with Sean 'Diddy' Combs, he drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl at a VMA afterparty in 2000. In an incendiary and impassioned statement released earlier this week, Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, dismissed the legal action taking by U.S. lawyer Tony Buzbee as a 'blackmail attempt'. Combs, who rose to fame as P Diddy and is currently in jail awaiting trial after being charged in September with sex-trafficking and other offences, has also denied the latest allegations. Jacki and Lyle analyse Jay-Z's statement in depth, with Jacki outlining that parallels can indeed be drawn between Carter's assertive response to these allegations and the statement released by Gregg Wallace over Instagram in the wake of allegations against him. In both cases, Jacki says, the accused should have kept their council and remained silent while taking advice on how to proceed. Jacki and Lyle are both keen to emphasise that they don't consider anyone guilty or innocent in these case at this stage as investigations need to take place, and Carter himself has a right of reply on the lawsuit filed against him. However, they also agree that someone's response in the face of these allegations does draw increased scrutiny and, by extension, suspicion surrounding their involvement. Lyle points to Jay-Z including his background - particularly referencing his rise from the project in Brooklyn to worldwide success - as an unusual step to have taken from a PR perspective considering this is a point he has used throughout his career as part of a positive PR campaign. Jacki also analyses whether the statement does, in fact, at any point deny Jay-Z's involvement in the alleged crimes, before both Lyle and Jacki also speculate as to whether Carter even wrote the statement himself! Finally, Jacki speculates that someone may well have now spoken to Jay-Z about his strategy moving forward given his silence over the last 72 hours, while she also points to speculation surrounding Jennifer Lopez being the unnamed female celebrity was in the room at the time of the alleged assault, and how Lopez herself has employed a measured response to these speculations by not responding to them in any way.

TW: this episode contains references to details that some listeners may find distressing, and listener discretion is advised.

Artwork & music by Lyle Fulton

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