Singer-songwriter Conor Oberst received an apology this week from a woman who accused him of raping her as a teenager a decade ago. She now said she fabricated the whole thing.
According to Rolling Stone, Joan Faircloth originally accused the Bright Eyes frontman of sexual assault in the online comment section of an XOJane article. After seven months of trying to reach her, Oberst and his lawyers filed a libel lawsuit against her in February saying the accusations were "absolutely, unequivocally false." She has now responded for the first time, with a formal apology.
"The statements I made and repeated online and elsewhere over the past six months accusing Conor Oberst of raping me are 100 percent false," she wrote in a notarized statement
published Monday by Buzzfeed.
Urgent: Do You Approve Or Disapprove of President Obama's Job Performance? Vote Now in Urgent Poll
"I made up those lies about him to get attention while I was going through a difficult period in my life and trying to cope with my son's illness. I publicly retract my statements about Conor Oberst and sincerely apologize to him, his family and his fans for writing such awful things about him. I realize that my actions were wrong and could undermine the claims of actual sexual assault victims and for that I also apologize. I'm truly sorry for all the pain that I caused."
Oberst’s latest album, "Upside Down Mountain," was released in May, and is cited in the libel suit. It claims the album has "sold substantially fewer copies than his prior albums, despite receiving some of the most positive reviews of Oberst’s career," and attributes the damage to Faircloth's comments. The suit estimates the damage caused was at least $700,000.
A representative of Oberst's said he was currently on tour in Europe and has yet to comment on the development.
It is unclear at this point how or if the lawsuit will move forward.
Urgent: Assess Your Heart Attack Risk in Minutes. Click Here.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.