Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst responds to rape allegations

Bright Eyes Conor Oberst has responded to anonymous allegations of rape made by an XOJane commenter.

Oberst's publicist released a statement lamenting the fact that a lie can get around the world before the truth has its boots on, calling the claims "uneqivocally false" and mentioning that Oberst is considering legal action.

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.

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The comments were initially posted on this article and claimed that Oberst raped the commenter when she was 16. The comments were eventually collected and blogged about on Tumblr. The commenter came forward with her own Tumblr blog, the first post of which is laid out below.

Look, I didn't intend for any of this to happen. I was a somewhat regular commenter on xojane and felt safe there. Call it dumb, naive, etc but when I hit that post button, I did not think my comment would be anything more than an exchange with one or two other commenters sharing their stories. Was I stupid to think that making an accusation about Conor like this was just going to remain some blip in the comment section of a feminist website? Obviously. But I didn't realize that Conor was still *that* popular, to be honest. I guess I felt too safe in that community. I had no intention for this to be all over the place, I really did not.

I am not looking for my 15 minutes of fame or to sue or to let anyone else make money off of this situation (though some are already trying), I am not looking for anything. I am not trying to ruin this man (and that isn't going to happen regardless). All I was looking for when I made the comment with my story was support from the ladies on that forum that I felt safe opening up to. But now this has been spread all over everywhere and I feel like I need to speak up for the facts, for my character and for my intent (or lack there of).

I wish I could say I was really brave and I was speaking out for the benefit of other victims of rape who may feel discounted in their experiences and alone. But I am not that brave. I am speaking now because everyone else is speaking for me and a lot of it isn't accurate. But now that it's out there, if anyone can relate to it and not feel so alone or needs any support, I'm here for that.

I am going to open this blog up for dialogue. You are welcome to send me questions. However, for the safety of my family and my sanity, I will only answer reasonable, respectful messages. I will not engage with absolutists who have already made their minds up about me and want to use this forum as a way to fuck with me or make this experience any harder. I just won't. I will not answer messages that I consider to be out of line, too invasive, would jeopardize the safety & privacy of my family, are too triggering for me as a victim or just out right hate. I will not do it.

I do not expect anyone to coddle me or hate him or to believe me. That's your choice and has no bearing on my life, but I do expect people to treat me with dignity and respect-this was and is very painful for me. It's really hard to have my experience smeared everywhere and picked apart, over analyzed, people criticizing me who know nothing of it, etc. But I made the stupid mistake that opened these flood gates so, I will deal with it. But please just try to be respectful-that shouldn't be so hard. Please refrain from telling me what I could've/would've/should've done. That is highly offensive to any victim of anything and not your place. Please respect my privacy for the safety of my family.

Thank you

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Both the Tumblr and the xoJane comments have since been removed.