Woman Who Accused Conor Oberst Of Rape Retracts Claim

Late last year, in the comments section of an XOJane article, indie rock star Conor Oberst was accused of rape by an anonymous woman — and while the claim was not supported by any evidence, it gained significant traction across the internet and is said to have affected the musician’s sales significantly.

Conor Oberst was not the initial subject of the XOJane article, which was titled “IT HAPPENED TO ME: I DATED A FAMOUS ROCK STAR & ALL I GOT WAS PUNCHED IN THE FACE.” But in the comments, a poster responded to a general call to “name and shame” famous abusers by recounting a tale involving the Bright Eyes star that became a viral repost on sites like Tumblr.

It wasn’t too long before the woman’s tale began to fall apart — but the story had gained traction by then. When the accuser, Joanie Faircloth, was unmasked, many who had initially posted her harrowing accusation were unaware of the numerous holes in the story (and several others) that had emerged.

Back in December, a poster later revealed to be Faircloth, wove a story of predatory behavior that led many to believe Conor Oberst had raped a teenager, and the first comment began:

“It was especially traumatizing because the way I became to know him is because his older brother was my 7th & 8th grade english teacher. His older brother is an amazing guy, a total sweetheart who helped me through some awful, awful times in my early teen years. He continued to be sort of a big brother mentor type to me throughout high school.”

Faircloth continued:

“I became a huge fan of Conor’s music and for my 16th birthday, Bright Eyes was playing a local show and my old english teacher (Conor’s brother) arranged for me to go and meet Conor after the show as a birthday present of sorts. Conor definitely took advantage of my teenage crush on him. At first, I was flattered when he was playing with my hair and had his hand on my leg. It was like my dream come true at that point. But then he clearly wanted to go further and I made it very clear and told him I was a virgin and wasn’t prepared to change that right then but he didn’t stop.”

Today, Faircloth issued a statement admitting that her XOJane comments were not only false, but that she specifically concocted the tale for the purposes of garnering attention and sympathy.

She said:

“The statements I made and repeated online and elsewhere over the past six months accusing Conor Oberst of raping me are 100% false… I made up those lies about him to get attention while I was going through a difficult period in my life and trying to cope with my son’s illness.”

The statement continues:

“I publicly retract my statements about Conor Oberst, and sincerely apologize to him, his family, and his fans for writing such awful things about him. I realize that my actions were wrong and could undermine the claims of actual sexual assault victims and for that I also apologize. I’m truly sorry for all the pain that I caused.”

Images of the sworn statement retracting the claim made by Joanie Faircloth against Conor Oberst were published to the internet. While “false rape” is believed to be a large issue, estimates indicate that rape is far more likely to be under or unreported than false claims are to gain traction.

[Image: Conor Oberst, NPR]