Justin Bieber Disputes Rape Claims On Social Media

As protests against police brutality march on around the world, people are also demanding justice in other ways. Over the weekend, a woman stepped up to accuse future West Side Story star Ansel Elgort of sexually assaulting her in 2014, when she was only 17 and he was 20. Now, two different women have stepped up to accuse Justin Bieber of sexual assaulting them back in 2014 and 2015.

The first woman to speak up, who identifies herself only by the first name Danielle, posted her account from an anonymous, since-deleted Twitter account on June 20th, claiming that she had been inspired by the recent allegations against Ansel Elgort to come forward with her own experience. According to her report, she met Bieber on March 9, 2014 at a small impromptu concert he held at Austin, Texas restaurant Banger's Sausage House and Beer Garden. After the singer played a few songs to a small crowd of "about 100 people at the bar" (including a few he dedicated to his then-girlfriend Selena Gomez), Danielle claims she and her friends were approached by a man who "asked [them] if [they] would like to wait after the show to meet Justin." They agreed, even though they thought it was "strange at first and sketchy," but Justin did eventually come out and take some pictures with them.

Later, Justin and a friend allegedly invited Danielle and her friends to join them at the Four Seasons Hotel and, after Justin's friend took her friends to another room, Danielle found herself alone with the singer, who started making out with her, despite the fact that he was in a relationship with Selena Gomez. Soon, "a steamy make-out session" had turned into something much more intense, with Justin unbuttoning and removing Danielle's jeans, and then, "tracing [her] underwear with his fingers." According to her account, things only progressed from there, ending with Justin "forcing himself inside [Danielle]" while she "felt [herself] starting to hyperventilate." Danielle recalls "[laying] there speechless," and while she didn't "want to go into detail about what happened next," she describes her body as feeling "unconscious" while Justin was "thrusting in and out of [her]."

Later that same night, a different woman by the name of Kadi came out with her own sexual assault story. "Just like Danielle, I was sexually assaulted by Justin Bieber," the account began. In her account, she met Justin on May 4, 2015 outside the Langham Hotel, where he was staying. She had camped out to get an autograph and a picture from the singer, but instead found herself getting invited inside by Bieber's bodyguard, Mikey Arana, around 2:30am. After kissing her without consent, Bieber allegedly "touched [her] butt while asking if it was real." Uncomfortable, Kadi excused herself to the restroom, only to be followed by Bieber, who allegedly locked the door behind him before "kissing [her], touching [her] body, and caressing [her]." Despite her protestations that she could not have sex before marriage as a "traditional and cultural thing," Kadi alleges that Bieber "pushed [her] to the bed," "pinned [her] down, pulled [her] leggings down and his shorts and penetrated [her]." According to her report, she told her sister at the time, but was convinced to stay quiet as the situation would "ruin [her] family's honor." In the aftermath, Kadi became suicidal and was checked into "rehab for mental treatment."

In the days since the allegations came out, a member of Bieber's camp has stepped up to respond to those posed by Danielle. Speaking to PopCrave, Allison Kaye, the President of Scooter Braun's SB Projects, claimed that on the day Danielle says she was assaulted, Bieber was actually staying at an Airbnb and not at the Four Seasons, where Danielle describes the events as having taken place. Kaye continued, "Any hotel reservation [Justin] had in Austin didn't begin until the following night and was at the Westin, not the Four Seasons. So this is factually impossible."

In a series of tweets, Bieber also disputed the story, sharing links to articles and photos to prove that he was not at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin on the night in question.

NYLON has reached out to Bieber's reps for comment.

Though there has been no official rebuttal to Kadi's claims, a number of people online have resurfaced old tweets in attempt to discredit her allegations. Of course, we know that there is no such thing as the "perfect victim" and the smear campaign against Kadi only provides further proof of why so many survivors of sexual assault — particularly those who were assaulted by celebrities and other high-profile public figures — hesitate to come out and tell their stories.