The embattled performer has canceled all his public engagements as scandal continues to churn.
Moby is pulling the plug on his tour to promote his memoir, Then It Fell Apart.
The decision comes as the veteran musician faces waves of bad press concerning his claims in the book that he dated Natalie Portman in 1999, which she has contested. His website states, "Moby is canceling all upcoming public appearances for the foreseeable future."
"We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause," the announcement continues. "All tickets will be refunded at the point of purchase, and Moby is happy to provide signed bookplates to everyone who bought tickets for these events."
The 53-year-old singer also got on Instagram share an apology as well, writing, "I'm going to go away for awhile. But before I do I want to apologize again, and to say clearly that all of this has been my own fault. I am the one who released the book without showing it to the people I wrote about. I'm the one who posted defensively and arrogantly."
"I'm the one who behaved inconsiderately and disrespectfully, both in 2019 and in 1999," he added. "There is obviously no one else to blame but me. Thank you, and I'm sorry. Moby."
In the book, Moby claims that Portman flirted with him in his dressing room in 1999. He also said they met up at the MTV Video Music Awards and then at a Donatella Versace party where he performed. In a later chapter of his book, Moby alleges having an "amazing night" in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her while she was attending Harvard.
"We held hands and wandered around Harvard, kissing under the centuries-old oak trees. At midnight she brought me to her dorm room and we lay down next to each other on her small bed. After she fell asleep I carefully extracted myself from her arms and took a taxi back to my hotel," he claims, later adding that "for a few weeks I had tried to be Natalie's boyfriend, but it hadn't worked out. ... I was relieved that I'd never have to tell her how damaged I was."
But during an interview published last week in Harper's Bazaar UK, Portman said the pair never dated and clarified their 16-year age difference.
"I was surprised to hear that he characterized the very short time that I knew him as dating because my recollection is a much older man being creepy with me when I just had graduated high school," she stated. "He said I was 20; I definitely wasn't. I was a teenager. I had just turned 18. There was no fact checking from him or his publisher -- it almost feels deliberate. That he used this story to sell his book was very disturbing to me. It wasn't the case. There are many factual errors and inventions. I would have liked him or his publisher to reach out to fact check."
Moby had pushed back against his critics and Portman's claims. On May 22, he posted a rebuttal to the actress' comments, including a photo of them together.
"I recently read a gossip piece wherein Natalie Portman said that we'd never dated. This confused me, as we did, in fact, date. And after briefly dating in 1999 we remained friends for years," Moby wrote on Instagram. "I like Natalie, and I respect her intelligence and activism. But, to be honest, I can't figure out why she would actively misrepresent the truth about our (albeit brief) involvement. The story as laid out in my book Then It Fell Apart is accurate, with lots of corroborating photo evidence, etc."
Since then, Moby offered an apology before Tuesday's for the controversy that's brewing around him. Earlier this week, he posted a mea culpa for not reaching out to the people he wrote about his book prior to its release.
"As some time has passed I've realized that many of the criticisms leveled at me regarding my inclusion of Natalie in Then It Fell Apart are very valid," he wrote. "I also fully recognize that it was truly inconsiderate of me to not let her know about her inclusion in the book beforehand, and equally inconsiderate for me to not fully respect her reaction."
"I have a lot of admiration for Natalie, for her intelligence, creativity, and animal rights activism, and I hate that I might have caused her and her family distress," he continued. "I tried to treat everyone I included in Then It Fell Apart with dignity and respect, but nonetheless it was truly inconsiderate for me to not let them know before the book was released."
"So for that I apologize, to Natalie, as well as the other people I wrote about in Then It Fell Apart without telling them beforehand. Also I accept that given the dynamic of our almost 14 year age difference I absolutely should've acted more responsibly and respectfully when Natalie and I first met almost 20 years ago."
Portman married dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied in 2012, after meeting in 2009 on the set of Black Swan. They have two children, son Aleph and daughter Amalia.
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