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Jul 14, 2014 Conor Oberst By Mike Hilleary

Back in December of last year Conor Oberst was accused of raping a woman after a Bright Eyes show in 2003. Immediately denoucing the allegations as “absolutely, unequivocally false,” Oberst inevitably pursued a libel suit against the woman, who has since been identified as Joan Elizabeth Harris.

Today Harris has issued a statement fully recanting her story and issuing a public apology: “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. 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.”

Harris had first accused Oberst of rape on an anonymous posting on the website XOJane.com. When he initially filed his lawsuit, Oberst stated that any proceeds from the case would be donated to charity.

(www.facebook.com/conoroberst)