A new book called Becoming Beyoncé has heads turning, especially over claims that Rihanna’s publicist in 2005 purposefully started a rumor about an affair between Rihanna and Jay Z. But now, Rihanna’s lawyers are saying that the claims just aren’t true, because that publicist never even worked for Rihanna.
The book quotes Jonathan Hay, who said that he started the love triangle story as a way to get traction for “Pon de Replay,” her first single.
Hay is quoted as saying, “It was my job to make sure she hit…. In an effort to generate some interest … I began to plant … stories that Jay and Rihanna were having a hot romance.”
But according to Rihanna’s legal team, Rihanna was never repped by Hay.
“Hay was never Rihanna’s publicist or had any personal or professional relationship with her,” Rihanna’s lawyer Jordan Siev said.
In response, Hay said, “I wasn’t Rihanna’s publicist, I was [the] publicist for her first single. She didn’t have a publicist…. It was back in the day, she was nobody.”
Vada Nobles, who wrote and produced “Pon de Replay,” has also come out and said, “I met this guy once, maybe twice…. I did not hire Jonathan Hay to promote Rihanna [or] ‘Pon de Replay’ … He had nothing to do with Rihanna. Someone I knew referred this guy [to me as a publicist], I said, ‘Let’s see what he can do’ … He was using my name and what I was doing to get traction for himself.”