Conor Oberst Receives Public Apology Over Rape Allegations

One-time musical prodigy Conor Oberst has received a public apology from Joan Elizabeth Harris, aka Joanie Faircloth, the woman who accused him in December last year of raping her in 2003, when she was 16 years old.

The Bright Eyes, Monsters Of Folk and Desaparecidos frontman sued his accuser for defamation back in February, but Faircloth – until now – had remained adamant of the truth to her allegations.

However, in a statement issued this morning (AEST) via content aggregator Buzzfeed, Faircloth admitted that she had completely fabricated her claims “to get attention” during a period of strain in her life.

“The statements I made and repeated online and elsewhere over the past six months accusing Conor Oberst of raping me are 100% false,” Faircloth wrote.

“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.”

Although Oberst’s publicists have said this marks the first communication from Faircloth in more than seven months of attempted contact, it remains unclear at this time how her admission will affect his defamation case against her moving forward.

You can see a full scan of Faircloth’s retraction below.

And hey, you can actually properly enjoy his latest tunes now, knowing that you're definitely not supporting someone that you shouldn't be.