Justin Bieber issues Twitter denial of 2014 sexual assault accusation
Toronto, Canada, Jun 22 (efe-epa).- Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber has denied sexually attacking a woman in 2014, an accusation made over the weekend on Twitter, and he threatened to take legal action against the person who made the claim.
On Sunday, Bieber took to Twitter to deny the accusation made via another account on the social network that later vanished and according to which a woman allegedly named Danielle said that she met the singer in Austin, Texas, when he was there giving a performance.
According to Danielle’s account, Bieber invited her along with several other female friends to the Four Seasons Hotel on March 9, 2014, where – as per her written statement – Bieber sexually attacked her.
Later, on another Twitter account, a person called Kadi accused Bieber of sexually attacking her in a New York hotel in May 2015.
Although Bieber, 26, has not responded to the second accusation, on Sunday the artist posted on Twitter a denial of the first claim with documents purporting to refute Danielle’s claim.
“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,” the singer said.
Bieber added: “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.”
In a series of tweets, Bieber published photos, press articles and even hotel invoices to try and show that what Danielle claimed was “factually impossible.”
Bieber said that, for example, on March 9 he was not staying at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin as Danielle alleged but rather in an AirBnb with actress Selena Gomez, his girlfriend at the time.
And on March 10 he stayed at the Westin Hotel in Austin and showed the receipt for his stay at that establishment.
“Every claim of sexual abuse should be taken very seriously and this is why my response was needed. However this story is factually impossible and that is why I will be working with Twitter and authorities to take legal action,” Bieber said.
In his last tweet, Bieber retweeted a message from Cole Sprouse, one of the actors on the “Riverdale” television series and who was also accused of perpetrating a sexual attack along with other actors in the series.
“False accusations do tremendous damage to victims of actual assault. Furthermore, I would never seek to silence anybody. I encourage that people look into the accusations themselves, as the events detailed were factually untrue,” said Sprouse.
EFE
