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Artist News Legal
Justin Bieber denies sexual assault and threatens legal action against accuser
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 23 June 2020
Justin Bieber has denied an accusation of sexual assault dating back to 2014, saying that he plans to take legal action against his anonymous accuser.
“Every claim of sexual abuse should be taken very seriously and this is why my response was needed”, he said in a series of tweets. “However, this story is factually impossible and that is why I will be working with Twitter and authorities to take legal action”.
A description of the alleged incident was posted to the social media platform at the weekend from an account that has since been deleted. A woman identifying herself only as Danielle said that she had been assaulted by Bieber at the Four Seasons hotel in Austin, Texas on 9 Mar 2014.
She says that she was invited back to the pop star’s hotel room after he performed a secret show at the city’s SXSW festival that evening. It was in that hotel room that she says she was assaulted.
Responding yesterday, Bieber said: “I don’t normally address things [like this] as I have dealt with random accusations my entire career, but after talking with my wife and team I have decided to speak up on an issue tonight”.
“Rumours are rumours but sexual abuse is something I don’t take lightly”, he went on. “I wanted to speak out right away, but out of respect to so many victims who deal with these issues daily I wanted to make sure I gathered the facts before I made any statement … I want to be clear. There is no truth to this story. In fact, as I will soon show, I was never present at that location”.
He went on to post a series of photographs, tweets, articles, emails and receipts that he says prove that he was not and could not have been at the Four Seasons hotel on the night in question. While he was in Austin that night, he says that he was staying at an Airbnb with his then girlfriend Selena Gomez and friends.
That Airbnb, he adds, was booked after a mix-up with his hotel room. But the mix-up wasn’t at the Four Seasons either. He had been due to stay at a Westin hotel, where he did stay the following night, under the name Mike Lowery, the name of Will Smith’s character in the ‘Bad Boys’ movies.
He also says that he has confirmed with the regional manager of the Four Seasons that he was never on the premises at the time.
Taking legal action against his accuser, as he says he plans to, relies on being able to identify the person who posted the original accusation, which may or may not be possible.
