Note: This article contains references to alleged sexual assault that some people may find disturbing.

Canadian musician and producer Owen Pallett has settled a defamation lawsuit against a woman who accused him of sexual assault, according to the parties involved.

In a complaint in Toronto court obtained by Pitchfork, Pallett (whose real name is Michael James Owen Plowright) accused the woman of “falsely and maliciously” telling people in the music industry that he sexually assaulted her. Pallett claimed an unspecified amount in monetary damages, including “punitive, aggravated, and exemplary damages,” plus interest and legal costs. He also sought a permanent injunction preventing the woman from making defamatory statements about him. (Pitchfork has chosen to withhold the woman’s name out of respect for her privacy.)

In the 12-page complaint filed in Ontario Superior Court of Justice on November 15, 2018, Pallett denied sexually assaulting the woman. The complaint said the two met in roughly January 2015, when she attended one of his performances in New York, and they became friends. On separate occasions in 2016 and 2018, Pallett claimed, the two engaged in an undisclosed number of “intimate encounters,” generally initiated by the woman and always with her explicit consent. In spring and fall of 2018, according to the complaint, the woman “told a number of music industry professionals that Owen sexually assaulted her.”

Pallett’s lawsuit claimed the woman made the allegedly defamatory statements “in order to manipulate him, seek monetary advances from him, ruin his career, and punish him for not reciprocating her requests for intimacy.”

In a joint statement given to Pitchfork, Pallett and the woman said they have now amicably resolved the matter. “We have apologized, and forgiven each other for our respective actions and statements,” they said. (When checked by Pitchfork, legal documents settling the case weren’t yet on file.)

Editor’s Note: Owen Pallett wrote an album review for Pitchfork in 2017.

If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual violence and need to talk, we recommend these resources:

RAINN https://rainn.org 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)

Crisis Text Line https://www.facebook.com/crisistextline (chat support) SMS: Text “HERE” to 741-741

https://pitchfork.com/news/owen-pallett-settles-defamation-lawsuit-against-woman-who-accused-him-of-sexual-assault