so? since when do people need to ask permission or gather opinions regarding how best to defend themselves?

Mental illness is not an excuse to ruin other people's lives. She deserves punishment if she's lying, regardless of motivation or reason.

Supposedly, she has a history of making up stories to her advantage. I assume this means she is active on social media and they are going to show a bunch of posts that are attention seeking and such. She also mentioned that seeing him concert for her 16th birthday "was best memory ever" - I am paraphrasing. So, kind…

neither are we sure that he did. either way, he has a right to defend himself and the only way to do that is by filing suit against the accuser.

this. for fuck's sake. he and his lawsuit aren't hurting victims. lying assholes who falsely accuse people of rape are the ones hurting the real victims. and making him out to be the bad guy for wanting to defend himself against (allegedly) false accusations is his right.

If a famous person is accused of rape (accurately or falsely), and that accusation is made public (as it was here), it certainly will hurt that person's career. While misogynists might not think too much differently of him, most people will generally try to avoid being associated with an alleged rapist.

Why is it, when people lie (about something major)...does everyone ASSUME they have a mental illness?

Hmmm...maybe, just maybe, social media isn't the proper venue to determine guilt or innocence.

Some rapists have mental illnesses too. Are you willing to give them a break too?

He's entitled to defend himself, just as she was entitled to report & press charges had she wanted.

I think it would be good to include some of the evidence against Joanie Faircloth so that people here don't think there is some question about whether or not he raped her. In her posts, she said she went to his show at 16, and he was a monster who violently raped her and destroyed her self esteem, yet here on…

And now, assuming he's innocent, he has reason to sue Right to Speak Out, too:

We are actually sure he didn't rape this woman.

So... if he did rape, he's rightfully labeled a villain, but if he didn't do it, he's supposed to accept his name being smeared in the media as a rapist. Interesting.

It was kind of news for a minute.

It's not like it was just in a comments section. That's just where the initial allegation was made. It then spread, because he was an accused rapist. Of a 16 year old. Which, if true, makes him a criminal. And if untrue, makes him a victim. If someone accuses someone in a comments…

I don't blame him for suing. He should sue for a dollar though. This way the focus is on the facts of the case and defamation not money.

So, in other words, he should just lay back and take it?

I guess I can see where they are coming from but on the other hand I also see his angle, if someone claimed that I raped them and was very public about it but then it turned out to be false I would DEFINITELY go for a defamation suit.

He's falsely accused of rape and he becomes the villain? That's fucked up.

Do we know for sure she was making it up? Cos if so, he's the only victim in this scenario.