A woman who recently accused 5 Seconds of Summer guitarist Michael Clifford of sexual assault has withdrawn her allegation.
The woman, known only as Sophie on Twitter, said she mistook Clifford for another man who is now deceased.
“My offender IS NOT MICHAEL CLIFFORD,” she wrote on Twitter today.
“HE NEVER TOUCHED ME, HE NEVER SAID THOSE THINGS TO ME. He’s innocent.”
The Twitter user expressed her deepest apologies for the harm she may have caused Clifford by wrongly accusing him.
“Please don’t send hate. Reliving everything is k*lling me but as I said, I never lied and I NEVER WILL. This is the truth. Thank you and I’m sorry, forever.”
https://twitter.com/sophiectth5/status/1272656761665785856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1272656761665785856&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nme.com%2Fnews%2Fmusic%2Ftwitter-user-withdraws-claim-of-sexual-assault-against-5-seconds-of-summer-guitarist-michael-clifford-2688851
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The sexual assault allegations originally surfaced on Twitter on Sunday. Using a since-deleted Twitter account, @sophiecth5, Sophie alleged that Clifford sexually assaulted her during a 2013 tour, Rolling Stone Australia reported.
Rolling Stone Australia reported that another since-deleted account, @knowyoureta, also claimed Clifford invited an underaged fan to a hotel room and “started touching her inappropriately”. That Twitter account made a number of other allegations about Clifford, including that he used to enter the crowd during concerts to touch fans inappropriately.
Michael Clifford categorically denied all accusations levelled at him, calling them “BEYOND untrue”.
“i was never allowed in the crowd i only ever watched at front of house – and i would’ve never EVER done that. i would NEVER do anything like that,” he wrote on Twitter.
Adam Wilkinson, the band’s former manager, rushed to Clifford’s defence.
“All accusations of this kind should be taken seriously if the information can be cross referenced and substantiated,” Wilkinson wrote on Facebook.
“That’s not the case here and I can confirm at all times I was with the band, they were escorted to front of house from backstage at all times, often by multiple body guards and crew. There is simply no possibility of this accusation to have occurred.”
Michael Clifford has not yet commented on Sophie’s withdrawal of her allegation.
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