No one expected them to see them on a red carpet. But when Blue Ivy made her debut for the Mufasa premiere in Los Angeles (she voices the character Princess Kiara), parents Beyoncé and Jay Z were right by her side. Jay, real name Shawn Carter, stood in the celebrity pit cheering on his 12-year-old daughter as she first posed for pictures alone, before joining her for family shots with Knowles – grins fixed to their faces. What was missing? The intense fanfare that usually follows Hollywood’s golden family to any public appearance. Now, the atmosphere was tense.

The shift comes after Carter was accused of rape, alongside Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, in a civil suit filed by Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee, who is representing more than 150 accusers in the wider Combs sex trafficking case. The alleged victim claims Carter and Combs drugged and raped her when she was 13 years old. Combs and Carter deny the allegation, Carter calling it a ‘blackmail attempt’. His lawyer Alex Spiro has asked a New York court to dismiss the case, citing inconsistencies in the accusation.

‘These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one,’ Carter said in a statement directed at Buzbee. ‘Whomever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree? These alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case.’

Carter went on to say that his heart breaks only for his family. ‘My wife and I will have to sit our children down, one of whom is at the age where her friends will surely see the press and ask questions about the nature of these claims, and explain the cruelty and greed of people,’ he said.

Whether or not Spiro is successful in having the case dismissed, the allegation alone is undoubtedly disastrous for the public image of Hip Hop’s favourite couple. For decades they have avoided publicly commenting on scandal – not the cheating rumours fuelled by Beyoncé’s Lemonade album, nor the Solange lift incident that saw Beyoncé stand by as her sister repeatedly hit Carter – adopting a so-called ‘wall of secrecy’ approach that simply can no longer fly amid such horrendous allegations.

‘Jay Z and Beyonce knew this was coming for a while, so they had time to prepare a strategy for whenever the lawsuit was going to be filed,’ an insider with ties to the family told Grazia. ‘The word is that they sat with their advisors and weighed up all options but ultimately decided that Jay would come out swinging and fight fire with fire.’

The decision to walk the red carpet certainly put on a ‘united front’ display, and yet eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice that Forbes chose to omit Beyoncé’s married name when listing her in their round-up of 2024’s Most Powerful Women– they have previously referred to her as Beyoncé Knowles Carter but chose to print only her maiden name on the list. Of course, many speculated whether she was involved in the choice, but she’s yet to comment on it publicly. On the contrary, sources say, Beyoncé plans to stand by Carter through this.

‘Beyonce is backing Jay 100 percent,’ the insider says. ‘But it’s undeniable that the scandal has had a very negative impact from a branding point of view. Jay’s adamant that he’ll sue anyone and everyone who tries to put him in that bracket of being Diddy’s sleazy sidekick, but he can’t control the internet and the fact that all over Hollywood people are talking about this.’

Blue Ivy is being shielded from reports, the source says, but it’s undoubtable that her red-carpet moment was overshadowed. Now, the rest of Hollywood’s power players sit quaking as Buzbee claims more A-list celebrities will be implicated in Diddy’s case. Social media rumours spiral as any and every one Diddy closely associated with throughout the years becomes fair game for harrowing discussions and allegations.

With the trial set for 2025, it’s another celebrity circus that few will be able to turn away from – but we must remember at the heart of all this is violent sexual abuse allegations, discussion of which is triggering for so many. Diddy stands accused of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation for prostitution. It’s claimed he ran a ‘criminal enterprise’ which included forced labour and kidnapping. Diddy denies all charges and plans to plead not guilty in court. Most recently, he was denied bail for a third time after judges cited concerns about potential witness tampering and deemed his freedom to be a significant risk. The trial is now set for May 2025.

Whatever happens next, the conversations many are having about Hollywood’s so-called dark side will reverberate for years to come.