Justin Bieber, Ansel Elgort, and Cole Sprouse, along with some of his Riverdale castmates, are being levelled with accusations of sexual assault.
On Saturday (June 20), two women went on social media claiming Justin Bieber sexually assaulted them – one in 2014, and the other in 2015.
Justin went on Twitter on Sunday (June 21) to deny one of the allegations in a series of tweets.
“I don’t normally address things as I have dealt with random accusations my entire career but after talking with my wife and team I have decided to speak up on an issue tonight,” Justin wrote.
“Rumors are rumors but sexual abuse is something I don’t take lightly. I wanted to speak out right away but out of respect to so many victims who deal with these issues daily I wanted to make sure I gathered the facts before I made any statement,” he continued.
“In the past 24 hours a new Twitter appeared that told a story of myself involved with sexual abuse on March 9, 2014 in Austin Texas at the Four seasons hotel,” he went on. “I want to be clear. There is no truth to this story. In fact as I will soon show I was never present at that location.”
“As her story told I did surprise a crowd in Austin at Sxsw where I appeared on stage with my then assistant side stage and sang a few songs. What this person did not know was that I attended that show with my then gf Selena Gomez,” he wrote.
He then proceeded to share reports, screenshots of photos and tweets, and even receipts from that time to back up his claim. He also shared his account of how it was impossible for him to have been at the Four Seasons hotel on March 9th.
“Every claim of sexual abuse should be taken very seriously and this is why my response was needed. However this story is factually impossible and that is why I will be working with twitter and authorities to take legal action,” he concluded.
He is yet to publicly address the claims surrounding the incident that allegedly occurred in 2015.
On Sunday (June 21), an anonymous Twitter user claimed that Cole Sprouse allegedly sexually assaulted her in 2013. According to multiple reports, other anonymous Twitter accounts also made similar accusations against his Riverdale castmates Vanessa Morgan, Lili Reinhart, and KJ Apa.
A screenshot of one of the accounts that made the accusations shows a tweet that read, in part, “Do you see how easy it is to lie and you guys will believe it?” The account has since been suspended by Twitter.
Cole spoke out against the allegations in a series of tweets. “Earlier today myself and three other cast mates were falsely accused of sexual offense by anonymous accounts on twitter,” he wrote. “I take these accusations very seriously, and will be working with the right teams to get to the root of it.”
“False accusations do tremendous damage to victims of actual assault. Furthermore, I would never seek to silence anybody. I encourage that people look into the accusations themselves, as the events detailed were factually untrue,” he continued, concluding, “This seems to be the latest claim in a series of incidents seeking to baselessly cancel my cast mates and me.”
Lili and Vanessa retweeted Cole’s statement. Lili also added a message of her own. “I have always taken sexual assault allegations seriously. But it was proven that this account was created specifically to create false stories about me and my cast,” she wrote. “I can’t think of something more twisted than lying about sexual assault. It invalidates the men and women who are brave enough to come forward with the truth.”
“This kind of lie can ruin lives and careers and I can call it a lie because the person who made the allegations already admitted that the stories were fabricated,” she continued.
“We are looking into taking legal action. This kind of sick behavior only harms true survivors. This was incredibly triggering for me and scary because I’ve always supported survivors and believed them,” she added, concluding that she hopes that sexual assault survivors won’t be dissuaded from speaking out about their experiences.
Another co-star, Madeleine Petsch, also spoke out against the “disgusting” accusations levelled at her castmates.
“As someone who has been sexually assaulted, I am deeply deeply disturbed that anyone thinks that it is okay to falsely accuse someone of sexual assault,” Madeleine tweeted. “This is why real assault allegations can sometimes not be taken seriously, you should be ashamed. This is disgusting.”
Ansel Elgort has also issued a statement denying the allegation that he sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl in 2014.
Last week, a social media user named Gabby claimed that she DM’d Ansel two days before her 17th birthday. She says that led to him giving her his private Snapchat account. She also accused him of sexually assaulting her a couple of days later, after she turned 17.
“I disassociated myself and just felt like my mind was gone I was in shock,” she claims in her since-deleted post, per The Wrap. She later added, “Years later I have ptsd, I have panic attacks I go to therapy. Finally I’m ready to talk about it and finally heal.”
She appears to have deleted her social media accounts since making the allegations.
Ansel has since issued a statement on social media.
“I was distressed to see the social media posts about me that have been circulating in the past 24 hours,” Ansel began his post. “I cannot claim to understand Gabby’s feelings but her description of events is simply not what happened. I have never and would never assault anyone.”
According to Ansel, “In 2014, when I was 20, Gabby and I had a brief, legal and entirely consensual relationship.” He also noted that it happened in New York, where the age of consent is 17.
“Unfortunately, I did not handle the breakup well. I stopped responding to her, which is an immature and cruel thing to do to someone. I know this belated apology does not absolve me of my unacceptable behavior when I disappeared,” he said. “As I look back at my attitude, I am disgusted and deeply ashamed of the way I acted. I am truly sorry. I know I must continue to reflect, learn and work to grow in empathy.”
