Melanie Martinez Again Denies Sexual Assault Allegations

Former The Voice contestant Melanie Martinez is continuing to deny the sexual assault allegations made against her.

On Saturday, Martinez took to Twitter to address the allegations made by former friend and fellow musician Timothy Heller, writing “I want to thank my fans who took the time to research the timeline, analyze past Instagram photos, and question the story being told, which reveals her false statements.” She added that she would “never be intimate with someone without their absolute consent.”

Martinez’s statement came just days after Heller accused the 2012 The Voice finalist of sexually assaulting and raping her during a sleepover, writing on Twitter that “silence doesn’t equal consent” as she gave a detailed account of what she alleged had taken place. Martinez had immediately responded to the accusations claiming that she was saddened by the false accusations against her.

Following the allegations, Martinez’s fans began using the hashtag #TimothyHellerIsOverParty as they analyzed various forms of social media to counter Heller’s accusations. Heller reacted to the response by writing that “This is why victims don’t speak up. I wouldn’t wish this upon anyone.”

She added that she doesn’t regret speaking up and that “just because this is hard, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t the right thing to do. No one should be silenced, and I know that talking about this was an important thing to do.”

Heller claimed that she was inspired to tell her story after the #metoo movement that swept social media.