The 'What Do You Mean?' hitmaker reportedly chooses to dismiss the case against two sexual assault accusers 'because he felt he'd made his point and wanted to move on.'
- Mar 23, 2022
AceShowbiz - Justin Bieber is looking to leave a legal drama in the past. The "What Do You Mean?" hitmaker has filed a motion to dismiss defamation lawsuit over "outlandish" sexual assault claims.
The 28-year-old pop star filed the paperwork via his lawyers on Friday, March 18 in Los Angeles court, per TMZ. Sources close to the "Stay" hitmaker claimed that he chose to ask the judge to throw out the case he filed in 2020 against sexual assault accusers, Khadidja Djibrine and an unidentified Jane Doe defendant named only as Danielle, "because he felt he'd made his point and wanted to move on."
Justin sued the two women in June that year, days after they posted tweets in which they claimed to have been assaulted by the pop star in separate incidents in 2014 and 2015. Danielle claimed she had been sexually assaulted by the chart-topping singer in an Austin hotel room following a surprise performance at South By Southwest in March 2014.
However, Justin's lawyers, Marty Singer and Evan Spiegel of the law firm Lavely & Singer, said he didn't have a room at the hotel and that there was clear evidence that he had spent the night with then-girlfriend Selena Gomez at a rental property elsewhere in Austin. "Bieber and Gomez were together, the entire night, at the Rental Property private residence, along with several of their friends," the attorneys wrote, "The detailed narrative and defamatory lies by Danielle are factually impossible and provably false."
In the meantime, Khadidja accused Justin of sexually assaulting her in a New York City hotel room in March 2015. Justin's legal team insisted the star never stayed at that hotel either and offered photo evidence that he was at a Met Gala after-party during the alleged incident.
In his defamatory suit, Justin called the allegations "malicious lies" and offered public alibis for both alleged incidents. "It is abundantly clear that these two individuals are trying to capitalize on the climate of fear permeating the entertainment industry, Hollywood and corporate America, whereby it is open season for anyone to make any claim (no matter how vile, unsupported, and provably false) about anyone without consequence," the documents read.
"[Khadidja], as an apparent superfan, may have waited outside his hotel at times, and like other fans, may have managed a fan photograph with him," the legal documents added. "But (if so) that is where any reality of her story ends, and her false, defamatory statements begin."
Last month, the attorneys for both Justin and Khadidja told the court that mediation had been unsuccessful in reaching a settlement as Danielle was never officially located. A trial had been tentatively scheduled for May.
