Stephen A Smith went off on friends of Jay-Z for not coming to the legendary rapper's defense after an anonymous woman recently accused him of rape in a lawsuit. Smith's rant comes as the alleged victim dropped her case, which also named Diddy, last week.
"As far as I'm concerned, he did exactly what he was supposed to do," Smith said, praising Jay for fighting back as aggressively as he did to clear his name. "Most of us would've let our lawyers handle it and we would've shut up and kept silent. He didn't do that. I remember I was taking a lot of heat for coming to Jay-Z's defense. My intitial question is: Where the hell are y'all now? And to the people who have smiled in Jay-Z's face, who are supposed to be his friends, who are supposed to be supportive of him, where y'all at?" From there, he clarified that he still doesn't know definitively what happened regarding the alleged incident; however, he says he shouldn't have faced backlash for arguing that the allegations aren't representive of the man he has known Jay-Z to be.
The woman who accused Jay of allegedly raping her when she was just 13 years old voluntarily dropped the case, last Friday. In turn, the courts dismissed it with prejudice, meaning she can't ever refile the same complaint. Following the move, Jay-Z's lawyer, Alex Spiro, noted in a statement that no settlement was given. “The false case against Jay-Z, that never should have been brought, has been dismissed with prejudice,” Spiro said, as caught by AllHipHop. “By standing up in the face of heinous and false allegations, Jay has done what few can—he pushed back, he never settled, he never paid one red penny, he triumphed and cleared his name.”
Diddy's legal team also put out a statement, predicting further dismissals in the other cases he's facing. The Bad Boy mogul is currently residing behind bars on charges of alleged sex trafficking. He previously pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations. His trial will kick off in May.
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