On Thursday, June 25th, Justin Bieber filed a $20 million lawsuit against two women who recently accused him of sexual assault on Twitter.
As Pitchfork report, the suit alleges that the women “fraudulently schemed to seek attention and fame by maliciously posting despicable, blatantly false, fabricated, defamatory accusations that Justin Bieber engaged in sexual assault.”
The suit continues to claim that “it is abundantly clear that these two individuals are trying to capitalize on the climate of fear permeating the entertainment industry.”
On June 20th a woman identified as Danielle shared a lengthy statement (from a since-deleted Twitter account) alleging a sexual assault that occurred in March 2014 in Austin, Texas.
The statement saw Danielle claim she and her friends attended an intimate event in Austin, hosted by Justin Bieber’s manager, music mogul Scooter Braun. During the event, Danielle and her friends were allegedly approached by a man who asked if they wanted to meet Bieber.
Danielle claims that she and her friends were invited to the Four Seasons Hotel to hang out with Bieber following the event.
“Fast forward to arriving at the hotel. Justin’s friend brought my 2 friends to a room, and then he took me to another room. Justin had made me agree not to say anything to anyone, or I can get in serious legal trouble. He asked for my phone and put it to charge,” she claims.
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Danielle went on to detail event in which Bieber “asked [her] to join him in bed,” she then alleges they shared a brief kiss before Bieber “pushed [Danielle] down onto the bed,” and removed her clothes. Danielle claimes that she “told him that this was going too far and that [they] should stop” to which Bieber allegedly told her to“relax,” and continued to pull her underwear down and “forced himself inside [Danielle].”
“As I laid there, speechless. My body felt unconscious,” Danielle wrote. “I don’t want to go into detail about what happened next. Although, this was 6 years ago, although I was one year older than him (he was 20, I was 21), I was still sexually assaulted without consent.”
Following the statement released by Danielle, another woman, identified as Kadi, tweeted her own account of alleged sexual assault by Bieber that occurred the following year in New York.
In the aftermath of the accusations, Justin Bieber took to Twitter to share a series of tweets, defending himself against the allegations of assault.
“I don’t normally address things 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,” he wrote.
“Rumors are rumors but sexual abuse is something I don’t take lightly. 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.”
TMZ have confirmed that Bieber is suing for defamation, with the $20 million in damages derived from Danielle and Kadi owing $10 million each.
