Conor Oberst is considering legal action after being accused of rape by an online commenter.
During the closing weeks of December, XOJane posted a story about an abusive rock star boyfriend. In the comments section, a reader began talking about her own experiences before accusing Conor Oberst of rape.
The comments quickly went viral, before XOJane moved to delete them. Subsequently emerging on Tumblr, the accusation quickly spread sparking legal action from Conor Oberst's team.
The statement denied the claims, while the songwriter's team then threatened legal action against the original poster. The statement reads:
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.
(via Pitchfork)