Justin Bieber drops defamation lawsuit over sexual assault allegations

‘Justin has decided to move on and dismiss the case for defamation filed in 2020’

Justin Bieber has dropped his defamation lawsuit against two women who accused him of sexual assault on social media.

The 28-year-old singer was accused of sexual assault by Khadidja Djibrine who claimed Bieber had assaulted her in the early hours of 5 May 2015 at the Langham Hotel in New York City.

The other accusation, by an anonymous woman named “Danielle” on Twitter, claimed Bieber sexually assaulted her at the Four Seasons hotel in Austin, Texas, on 9 March 2014.

Bieber had addressed the accusation in 2020 by saying that he did not stay at the Four Seasons on the date cited in the allegation and provided screenshots from news stories that showed him on that day with his then-girlfriend, singer Selena Gomez.

“I don’t normally address things, as I have dealt with random accusations my entire career, but after talking with my wife [Hailey Baldwin] and team, I have decided to speak up on an issue tonight,” he wrote on Twitter at the time.

“Rumours are rumours, but sexual abuse is something I don’t take lightly.”

Bieber later filed a $20m (£16.2m) defamation lawsuit against the two women.

The “Ghost” singer’s complaint asserted that the two plaintiffs “fraudulently schemed to seek attention and fame by maliciously posting despicable, blatantly false, fabricated, defamatory accusations that Justin Bieber engaged in sexual assault.”

According to multiple reports, mediation between Bieber and Djibrine was unsuccessful and the second woman named “Danielle” was never located. Therefore, a trial had been tentatively scheduled for May.

Bieber’s attorneys, however, moved to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit in a Los Angeles court on Friday (18 March).

“Justin has decided to move on and dismiss the case for defamation filed in 2020,” Bieber’s attorney Evan Spiegel told NBC News on Tuesday (22 March).