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Home • News

Rihanna's Former Publicist Apologizes for Fabricating Jay Z Cheating Rumors

RiRi's ex-publicist set the record straight on a rumor that has been brewing for a decade.
Rihanna's Former Publicist Apologizes for Fabricating Jay Z Cheating Rumors
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
By Taylor Lewis · Updated October 27, 2020

It has been 10 years since the rumor mill churned out whisperings that Rihanna was having an affair with Jay Z, reports BET. But now, RiRi’s ex-publisict, Jonathan Hay, is telling J. Randy Taraborelli, the author behind the new unauthorized Beyonce biography, Becoming Beyonce: The Untold Story, that he made the whole thing up.

During his interview, Hays said that he invented the lie to try and boost a budding Rihanna’s starpower.

Rihanna on Being a Young Black Woman with Power

“The PR stunt that I did wads out of desperation to help break ‘Pon de Replay,'” Hays told Taraborelli. “It was reckless, and I didn’t think it was going to work. I was just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what would stick.”

We’re glad that’s over! 

TOPICS:  Jay Z Rihanna