A Sydney woman has publicly apologised to international pop star Dean Lewis after wrongly accusing him of sexually assaulting her and preying on 'hundreds' of underage girls. Ava Hussein is the third woman to retract claims of sexual misconduct against Lewis, as the singer-songwriter fights back against what he calls a sustained online campaign of false allegations.
The 19-year-old onetime superfan used her TikTok, Snapchat and X accounts to accuse Lewis of sexually assaulting her when she was 16, and being a 'predator' who grooms minors. Those allegations spread unchecked across Lewis's fan communities and various social media platforms, forcing him to threaten legal action against Ms Hussein and others.
Ms Hussein, who sought legal representation, has now posted a public apology to Lewis on TikTok, acknowledging the allegations she made about him were untrue. 'I previously published and republished statements on social media about Dean Lewis, including allegations that he sexually assaulted me and engaged in grooming conduct involving a minor,' she wrote. 'Those claims were untrue. I should not have made or repeated those allegations. My conduct in publishing and amplifying them was wrong. I acknowledge that my actions have caused serious harm to Mr Lewis' reputation. I apologise to Mr Lewis for that harm.'
English woman Evie Smith has previously issued a public apology to Lewis for false claims she made about the Waves hitmaker. A third accuser is a serving British policewoman aged in her early 20s from whom Lewis accepted a private apology out of consideration for the nature of her job. Sydney-born Lewis has since late last year been the subject of a barrage of unsubstantiated allegations of criminal conduct against women and underage girls.
Lawyers acting for Lewis in Australia, the UK, the US and The Netherlands hit back at his loudest accusers with a coordinated response in February. Concerns notices were sent to Ms Hussein, Ms Smith and the British policewoman, while legal action was launched against 25-year-old Dutch woman Sanne van Ooijen. With Ms Hussein having issued her apology to Lewis, Ms van Ooijen is for now the only accuser he has challenged who has not retracted her statements.
Lewis, who followed the success of Waves in 2016 with his 2019 hit Be Alright, has sold out shows at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, OVO Arena Wembley in London and Sydney's TikTok Entertainment Centre. He has freely admitted to being 'flirty with adult women of all different ages, in-person, online and over text' but insists he has done nothing illegal. 'Occasionally, that flirting leads to consensual intimate encounters that I thought were private,' he posted on Instagram when the claims of inappropriate behaviour first surfaced.
Between late 2022 and March 2023, Ms Hussein went to multiple Lewis concerts, including four shows in Sydney and Wollongong, paying for VIP access to meet her idol. Those encounters were brief and conducted in public in the company of venue staff, other patrons and her own mother. Interactions with Lewis were filmed by his official photographer. Ms Hussein made no initial complaint about Lewis's behaviour but in February 2025 began publishing a series of escalating claims about him on social media. She alleged Lewis was a 'predator' who 'grooms children' and had touched her breast during a meet-and-greet event when she was 16. Ms Hussein further claimed to a growing social media audience that 38-year-old Lewis had engaged in similar conduct with 'hundreds' of underage girls. Photographs and video recordings of Ms Hussein's interactions with Lewis provided by other fans who were present showed entirely ordinary meet-and-greets.
Until late last year, 19-year-old Ms Smith was one of Lewis's most influential global fans. On October 26, she published a TikTok video which went viral and sparked a campaign which led to snowballing online allegations against Lewis. Ms Smith's TikTok featured two private conversations between Lewis and a woman, edited and spliced, overlaid with text stating 'this is how your favorite artist speaks to teenagers'. Following the publication of the video, which was viewed 12 million times before its removal in January, suggestions of inappropriate behaviour by Lewis escalated into wild accusations of sexual assault. The concerns notice sent to Ms Smith said the video suggested Lewis engaged in sexually predatory conduct toward underage girls and had unlawful sexual communications with minors. Ms Smith, from Merseyside, initially responded to the concerns notice by saying she would never issue an apology to Lewis but in late March performed a spectacular backflip. 'Hi, I want to say something about the things I posted about Dean Lewis,' she told her 95,000 followers on TikTok. 'In October I posted things about Dean that weren't true and misled people. I also used my TikTok account to bring more attention to claims (from) others without knowing if they were true and what I did turned into a campaign against Dean. I made serious claims without properly checking them and I shouldn't have done that. What I did was wrong. I am really sorry to Dean for what I've done and the impact it has had on him, especially on his reputation.'
Lewis has not sought financial compensation from any of the women who have made accusations against him. 'His position has been directed to accountability and correction of the public record,' a spokeswoman said. 'Mr Lewis has categorically denied any allegations involving minors and maintains that he has never engaged in any inappropriate or unlawful conduct with underage individuals. He has publicly addressed the allegations, acknowledging that he has not always behaved appropriately in his personal life and apologising for conduct he accepts was insensitive and has caused hurt. At the same time, he has drawn a clear distinction between that conduct and the far more serious claims now made against him.' The allegations against Lewis had caused him 'significant significant reputational damage in Australia and internationally'. 'Mr Lewis has suffered material loss - including the premature end of his recording contract with Universal Music Australia,' his spokeswoman said.
