Justin Bieber has had a defamation lawsuit against two women who accused him of sexual assault dismissed.
The lawsuit, launched back in 2020 by the singer and his legal team, has been confirmed by Pitchfork to have been dropped; officially ‘dismissed with prejudice’, meaning Bieber will not be able to re-file the claim in the same court.
It all started on Twitter, with two separate women alleging that Bieber sexually assaulted them: a woman named ‘Danielle’ accused the singer of assaulting her at SXSW in 2014, while the second accuser – ‘Kadi’ – followed up with her own story alleging Bieber abused her in New York in 2015.
At the time, Bieber came out in defence of himself, emphatically denying the first set of allegations, even posting a range of emails, screenshots and receipts that proved his alibi during the alleged time of assault.
In an article posted by The Hollywood Reporter, Bieber also established his alibi with regards to Kadi’s story (who his attorney guessed could be the same person under two accounts), by stating he was at a Met Gala afterparty on the night in question, with many witnesses available to vouch for him. He also countered the story, by stating that Kadi was a ‘superfan’ who was ‘desperate for attention and fame’.
“The malicious statements made by ‘Danielle’ and ‘Kadi’ are absolutely false, and their respective heinous accusations that Bieber engaged in the alleged sexual assaults are outrageous, fabricated lies,” attorney Martin Singer stated in their official complaint.
“It is abundantly clear that these two individuals are trying to capitalise on the climate of fear permeating the entertainment industry, Hollywood and corporate America, whereby it is open season for anyone to make any claim (no matter how vile, unsupported, and provably false) about anyone without consequence.”
Following this, Danielle’s Twitter account was removed and Kadi’s posts were deleted (Bieber didn’t directly address her claims).
Though the posts were removed, Twitter became involved when Bieber’s legal team subpoenaed the social media platform to assist them in providing more information about the two women, before filing a $20 million lawsuit against them.
The trial was set to start in May 2022, after attorneys for both ‘Kadi’ and Bieber failed to reach a settlement via mediation back in February.
