Some things you simply can’t take back. Last December, a young woman named Joan Elizabeth Harris claimed in the comments of an XOJane article that Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst had sexually assaulted her a decade ago. The resulting controversy created a firestorm of anger and debate over the alleged encounter, with Oberst filing a libel lawsuit against her, calling her accusations “absolutely, unequivocally false.”
Now Harris, who originally claimed her name was Joanie Faircloth, is recanting her story, and asking for forgiveness for what she wrote.
“The statements I made and repeated online and elsewhere over the past six months accusing Conor Oberst of raping me are 100 percent false,” she wrote in a notarized statement via Buzzfeed. “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. 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.”
Oberst, on tour in Europe, was not immediately available for comment. In the sensationalistic chaos that ensued, parasitic publication TMZ claimed the rape accusation had led Oberst’s own label to drop him, which the label denied.
Oberst’s lawsuit vehemently denied the assault as well. “The only connection between Oberst and Faircloth was one of artist and fan – a fan who has posted laudatory comments about Oberst elsewhere online, including describing attending his band’s concert as the ‘Best memory ever,'” Oberst’s lawyers wrote at the time.
Oberst’s May album, Upside Down Mountain, has “sold substantially fewer copies than his prior albums, despite receiving some of the most positive reviews of Oberst’s career,” according to Conor’s father and business manager. He estimated the cost of Faircloth’s allegation to be at least $700,000.
