A man who claims to be the rapper’s son jay-z accuses him of abusing American laws in order to avoid carrying out a paternity test, according to the Daily Mail.
Rymir Satterthwaite aged 30, has been fighting for more than a decade to prove that her husband Beyonce is your biological father. After being dismissed by judges several times, he is now taking the battle to the New Jersey Supreme Court in an attempt to reopen the case and force Jay-Z to perform the DNA test.
To the Daily Mail, Satterthwaite said he doesn’t expect anything from Jay-Z other than recognizing him as a son, and that he won’t stop until he sees justice being done.
Jay-Z’s lawyers, however, denied the man’s allegations. To the English portal, they said: “The allegations were previously reviewed thoroughly by the courts and were refuted. I’m sure this will be the result of whatever lawsuits Mr. Satterthwaite is currently considering”.
Rymir Seeks NJ Supreme Court for Justice in His Case https://t.co/ueVUDrOOao
— Rymir Is Here (@RymirIsHere) March 3, 2023
To continue the fight, Satterthwaite filed a new motion with the New Jersey Supreme Court this February, asking the court to open documents dating back to 2012.
But, according to the Daily Mail, the motion was denied, with the court understanding that it “had no jurisdiction to reopen matters in the court of appeals or to open records in the court of trial”.
Satterthwaite then turned his case over to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey, which is reviewing the case.
understand the controversy
The events mark the latest twist in a case that, according to Satterthwaite, began in 1992, when his mother Wanda allegedly became sexually involved with Jay-Z while she was on and off with her high school boyfriend.
At the time, Wanda was 16 years old, while Jay-Z was 22 – and he was still a long way from becoming the global sensation he is today, which began after the release of his first studio album in 1996.
According to Satterthwaite, the relationship between Wanda and Jay-Z was short-lived and, when he was born, in 1993, the alleged romance would have come to an end.
That is why, even, that his mother would have chosen to put the name of her high school sweetheart, Robert Graves, as the biological father on the birth certificate. At the time, they had started dating again and Graves accompanied her to the hospital on the day of the delivery.
But Wanda always knew that he was not the real father of her child, and this became even more evident as he grew up and bore no resemblance to her high school sweetheart.
At the age of eight, Wanda decided to reveal the identity of her biological father. But the paternity issue only became a legal dispute in 2010, when Wanda’s health began to deteriorate.
She insisted that she had had sex with only two men at the time of her child’s conception: her high school sweetheart and Jay-Z, who by then had become a global icon.
Wanda requested that a Pennsylvania court perform a paternity test on the two men to determine who was, in fact, the father of her child. Graves agreed to take the test and it was proven that he was not the real father – which led to his name being removed from Satterthwaite’s birth certificate.
In 2011, faced with her health, Wanda handed custody of her son to godmother Lillie Coley, who promised to continue the fight for the identity of the real father.
That same year, Coley contacted Lise Fisher, Jay-Z’s attorney, to ask him for a paternity test in New Jersey, but the request was ignored.
Afterwards, Satterthwaite and her godmother filed a lawsuit against the rapper. The case began with a pre-trial in Camden County in August 2012, with the artist’s legal team claiming that Coley would not have “jurisdiction” over the case because it was first filed by Wanda, Pennsylvania.
Jay-Z’s lawyers also argued that the lawsuit could not be taken due to the fact that Satterthwaite was over 18 at pre-trial. Under Pennsylvania state law, paternity must be established before the child reaches the age of majority.
The court, in turn, disagreed with the argument, and decided that the case should be heard under New Jersey law, which sets the 23-year limit for establishing paternity.
Jay-Z’s defense then went in another direction, stating that the artist did not live or own residences in that state and that, therefore, he would be exempt from carrying out a DNA test on the spot.
The justification led the court to reject Coley and Satterthwaite’s request. They didn’t give up and appealed the verdict, presenting property deeds and tax records in an attempt to prove that Jay-Z actually owned properties in New Jersey under his real name – Shawn Corey Carter.
The case was then resumed in December 2012, but the rapper’s defense was victorious again after claiming that the duo was unable to prove that that name really meant Jay-Z, and not another homonymous person.
The decision was a serious blow to Satterthwaite and her godmother, who believe the artist’s legal team made false statements to influence the court.
Already in December 2014, Satterthwaite decided to file a civil lawsuit against the rapper and his lawyer, when Jay-Z’s team again claimed that he did not own real estate in New Jersey. The DNA request was once again rejected and the case ended up being sealed by the American court, which prevents the public from having access to the files of the legal battle.
This is what the man is now trying to convert, understanding that being deprived of access to the documents prevented him from continuing with the process. Winning the case would also mean honoring the mother, who defended paternity until her death.
Before dying, Wanda recorded a video in which she says: “My name is Wanda Satterthwaite and I am the mother of Rymir Satterthwaite. Today is April 20, 2016 and I want the world to know that I support my son in his parenting suit with Shawn Corey Carter. I stand by my allegations about this man.”
Other episodes of that battle include a civil damages lawsuit against Jay-Z in 2015, in which Satterthwaite alleges that the rapper had obstructed his ability to get closure on the situation.
In 2017, the man and his godmother filed a civil rights complaint with Judge Glenn A. Grant for violations that included failing to follow normal procedures for court services based on gender, class, and retaliation.
They also filed civil rights complaints with the New Jersey Attorney General, the New Jersey Governor, several New Jersey senators, and the New Jersey Council on Judicial Conduct.
Complaints of civil rights violations were repeated to the same parties again in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. However, once again, all cases were dismissed.
Satterthwaite insists his aim with all this is just to be validated and says he will continue to fight alleged fraud and collusion. Jay-Z has never spoken publicly about the case.
The closest thing to a manifestation of the controversy on the part of the artist was in the song “Heard About Us”, whose lyrics say “for the thousandth time, the boy is not mine / Online they call me dad, joking / You should not take this dad thing literally.”
With Beyoncé, Jay-Z has three children: Blue Ivy, 11, and twins Rumi and Sir, five.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
