Jay-Z under fire for cringe joke aimed at Rihanna amid rape allegations

Jay-Z’s old interview clip has once again sparked reactions on social media regarding his intense efforts to secure a recording contract with a young Rihanna.

According to Daily Mail, at that time, the founder of Fenty Beauty was an aspiring artist auditioning for a local American music company called Def Jam Recordings, where Jay-Z had recently become president and CEO.

In a viral clip from a 2005 conversation with MTV’s Sway Calloway, Jay-Z discussed his determination to sign the then-17-year-old singer. 

“We signed [the deal] at night. We didn’t let her leave the office until 3 in the morning.”

He even joked about throwing the Umbrella singer out of the window from the 29th floor if she didn’t sign the contract. 

In a resurfaced clip shared on Reddit, Rihanna reflected on her experience meeting Jay-Z during an appearance on The Tyra Banks Show.  

The mother-of-two said, “The moment I walked into the office, the atmosphere was so warm and welcoming that I sang Pon de Replay for my audition.”

When asked by Banks what Jay-Z had said to her, she replied “He said, ‘We don’t sign songs here, we sign artists. There was this little pause I was nervous and then he said, And we’re interested. There was this sudden feeling of relief.” 

She further recounted, “Then he said there are two ways to leave here: either through the door with the deal signed or through this window, and we’re on the 29th floor.”

These clips resurfaced after an anonymous woman accused Jay-Z and his close pal, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, of raping her when she was just 13 years old during an afterparty following the MTV Video Music Awards ceremony in 2003.