“Death Of JAY-Z’s Mistress” Doc Sparks Response From Publicist Behind Rihanna Affair Rumor

Posted on by EDITORIAL FEATURES

A documentary called The Disturbing Death of JAY-Z’s Mistress by Trap Lore Ross was released on YouTube roughly two weeks ago.


The 49-minute film centers around the mysterious death of 28-year-old model Cathy “Kori” White, who died in 2011 after suffering a reported brain aneurysm. It also ties Diddy’s mounting legal woes and JAY-Z’s possible connection to White together. White had allegedly just told JAY-Z that she was pregnant with his child. But JAY-Z was married to Beyoncé at the time and they were expecting their first child, Blue Ivy. Rumors ran rampant and many concluded White’s death was much more nefarious.

Jonathan Hay, who was Rihanna’s publicist at the onset of her career, is mentioned in the doc. He previously admitted to fabricating a story about Rihanna and JAY-Z having an affair in an attempt to drum up more media coverage for his client. He posted about the doc on Instagram, explaining, “I was mentioned in this explosive and viral documentary by Trap Lore Ross that was featured on @akademiks that’s made my phone blow up for the past week. Recently @jaguarwright has talked about this controversial situation as well, as I was the publicist for ‘Pon de Replay,’ the debut single by Rihanna.”

Hay also vowed to tell his side of the story with, “It’s time for me to finally set the record straight once-and-for all as it’s way beyond shocking, messy – and just flat out CRAZY AF!!!!! Prepare to be blown away as what @iamcaptainchronic and I have been through over the years involving this historical scandal that needs to be put to bed for good. Yes, heads are going to roll, and people will be floored but the truth needs to be revealed!!!!!”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jonathan Hay (@jonathanhaycelebrity)

Speaking to AllHipHop, Hay explained what was going through his head when he decided to drum up the rumor about Rihanna and JAY-Z’s affair. As he puts it, he was angry with JAY-Z at the time and in no way, shape or form was concerned with the repercussions.

“When I executed this controversial publicity and marketing campaign for Rihanna’s debut single, she was an unknown artist and I was hungry for a hit, and I knew that ‘Pon de Replay’ was a special song,” he tells us. “I had direct access to JAY-Z back then from working with Amil, the female rap artist on a couple of JAY-Z’s biggest hit records at the time.

“Industry executive Kevin Skinner, who was in a high-profile legal battle with Whitney Houston, was the person who introduced me to the debut Rihanna project and to one of the ‘Pon de Replay’ producers. I was hired to promote ‘Pon de Replay’ and I wrote Rihanna’s first press release. I devised a plan to pitch Rihanna as JAY-Z’s latest protégé on Def Jam to MTV News. I reached out to my contact at MTV and she published a small news item on Rihanna on March 17, 2005, which was RiRi’s first big press.”

But Hay was baffled by the lack of response. MTV, which was hugely influential back then, failed to spark any more press.

“This initial trigger set everything in motion, and I tried to utilize the MTV press link to promote ‘Pon de Replay’ to other media sources,” he continues. “There was nobody bigger than MTV at that time, but even still, no other press was picking up the ‘Pon de Replay’ story and I was striking out left and right.

“I started to get desperate and I was so angry at JAY-Z as he was more focused on Teairra Marí and there was all this talk that he was pursuing a rapper named Lady Sovereign, who he ended up signing months later. Not to mention, JAY-Z was constantly dissing Amil, who had quit the music industry and was living in North Carolina at the time raising her children.

“So I was like f### JAY-Z, since he won’t give us any attention and he’s being disrespectful to Amil, who was a single mother. I’m going to get his attention and be disrespectful back to JAY-Z, as Rihanna was the best thing on Def Jam by far. I thought JAY-Z was a dirtbag, so I put out the story that JAY-Z was in a love triangle with Rihanna and Beyoncé—and that caught fire, sparked conversation, increased radio airplay, press coverage and other forms of attention. I was in an unapologetic ‘by any means necessary’ state of mind.”


[embedded content]

As Hay would soon find out, someone was paying attention—the feds. He went on, “One day, unmarked law enforcement cars stopped me. These intimidating individuals introduced themselves as a federal task force and they requested to speak with me, so I followed them to talk and I was in a complete state of panic. As I sat in the desolate/makeshift interrogation room, the gravity of the situation became clear to me.

“They mentioned that they had been keeping a close watch on JAY-Z since he stabbed Lance ‘Un’ Rivera and he was also being implicated in a violent incident with R. Kelly during their joint tour, promoting JAY-Z and R. Kelly’s joint album. The officers clarified that they were investigating JAY-Z for allegedly engaging in sexual activity with underage Rihanna and transporting her across international borders. They said she wasn’t the only one and there were many others.”

Hay said he felt the blood drain from his face as he realized they wanted to charge JAY-Z with some serious crimes. Although he attempted to explain the Rihanna rumor was completely untrue, they believed otherwise.

“No one benefits from reckless ambition,” he says. “The interrogation was a brutal reality check. However, looking back now, there are some serious red flags, as JAY-Z was once very close to R. Kelly and they have two collaborative albums. They have like 30 songs together, and they have toured together. As we all know, JAY-Z has also been extremely close to Diddy for several decades, so it’s not very hard to come to some of the conclusions that Trap Lore Ross and Jaguar Wright have come to with JAY-Z.”

[embedded content]

Hay was asked to publicly apologize to Beyoncé on national television and basically, as he puts it, “fall on the sword.” He adds, “I was told to issue statements about Rihanna and JAY-Z and I was to take full blame, again, also falling on the sword.

“JAY-Z’s team was supposed to return the favor and help me with some serious TIDAL promotions, but he never did. There were so many CEO changes at the time at TIDAL it was hard to keep up. I was shocked that JAY-Z nor his team followed through with the agreement. Also, let’s be real, the Rihanna publicity stunt did not cause problems for JAY-Z and Beyoncé’s relationship, and I’m tired of hearing that nonsense. JAY-Z caused problems in his relationship.”

While several of White’s close friends would go on to confirm her relationship with the Roc Nation mogul, Claudia Jordan denied he was ever intimately involved with White. Even so, conspiracy theories and salacious rumors surrounding White’s death and JAY-Z’s involvement remain. However, no concrete evidence has ever been presented to suggest White was murdered or that JAY-Z, or Beyoncé for that matter, had anything to do with her passing. As stated in the doc, White’s death was likely nothing more than a freak health incident.