Jay-Z To Sit On The Witness Stand In Court Over Long Standing Perfume Deal Issues

Jay-Z and Beyoncé reportedly had a blast over the weekend at Alexandre Arnault's wedding. It's going to be a quick turn back to reality for the rap mogul though. He's set to be sitting on the witness stand in the coming days in a long-standing lawsuit between himself and Parlux Fragrances. The issue goes back to a 2012 perfume launch in a deal that the fragrance company had struck with Jay-Z. They claim that Jay-Z did not fulfill his end of the bargain. Now they are taking him to the stand to get the truth out of him!

Back in 2012 Jay-Z and Parlux Fragrances teamed up for the release of "Gold Jay-Z". This wasn't your typical celebrity-endorsed fragrance, ok maybe, but what made this fragrance unique was the fact that the bottle was meant to be sold at 20,000 dollars! Long story short, the company had trouble selling this particular perfume bottle that featured an authentic 18-karat gold cap. The brand estimates they lost 18 million dollars on this stunt. They largely attribute the loss to Jay-Z not promoting the brand enough. While still collecting his 2 million dollar royalty fee!

Although the deal dates back to 2012, the official lawsuit didn't hit the courts until 2016. Now through 2021, that's still a long time to be fighting over this issue. Potentially due to how slow the case has been moving along it was the judge himself that suggested to the perfume company that they put Jay-Z on the stand. The rapper gave a video deposition on October 1st. The judge though suggested that they, “do this the old-fashioned way.” , and question him in front of a jury.

Jury duty is something not a lot of people love to do, but it is an important civic duty. Residents of the state of New York where the case was filled may want to look in the mail to see if they got that jury duty notice. The selection process is set to begin this Monday. The judge on the case, Andrew Borrok, is sounding confident that the case will be resolved quickly. Particularly since he told, Anthony Viola, the attorney for Parlux fragrances how to get things done. He commented on the case saying,

“This should be sorted out pretty quickly now given the fact that Mr. Viola knows that I’m encouraging him to call the artist and the artist’s business manager,” Borrok continued saying, “So, the artist might be our first witness in the case if that’s what Mr. Viola chooses.”

Originally the lawsuit was filed for $18 million. The fragrance company mentioned that they wanted the 2 million dollar royalty fee back from Jay-Z. Plus, they want him to pay for the losses that the product generated due to his unwillingness to promote it. If Jay-Z loses he could be looking at having to pay added legal fees as well. With this in mind, it may be possible that his side will be looking for an out-of-court settlement. Check the mail though if you're in NYC! You may find yourself as a juror for the Jay-Z case.