Bright Eyes, aka 33-year-old Conor Oberst, has responded to rape allegations made online via the website xoJane over the weekend, with an anonymous commenter accusing the singer songwriter of sexually assaulting her when she was 16.
The post has since gone viral on Tumblr, with the alleged victim claiming she was a student of Oberst’s older brother. She stated that her teacher gave her backstage passes to a Bright Eyes gig 10 years age. It was there the rape allegedly occurred.
But Oberst’s publicist has since issued a statement denying the accusation:
“Usually we wouldn’t feel the urge to comment on spurious blog chatter but the recent allegations made about Conor Oberst by an anonymous commenter on the xoJane website are flagrant enough to demand our response. This individual’s accusations are absolutely, unequivocally false. Unfortunately, the internet allows for groundless statements like this to travel the world before the truth has any time to surface. This is a particularly serious and sickening allegation and there is no truth to it. Conor has nothing but abhorrence for the perpetrators of such crimes of sexual violence. The behavior attributed to him by this individual is in direct opposition to his principles. Conor is consulting with a libel attorney regarding this matter.”
The commenter made a Tumblr account to discuss her story further. It’s since been deleted, although you can find a copy of it here.
Oberst’s side project Desaparecidos will be touring Australia as part of Soundwave, with the outfit originally slated to play the failed Harvest Festival last November.
(via The 405)
