*Memphis Grizzlies center Dwight Howard has addressed rumors about his sexuality in an interview FS1’s Kristine Leahy.
Howard is caught up in a sexual harassment lawsuit by a man who claims they had a romantic relationship.
“I’m not gay,” Howard said on Fair Game with Kristine Leahy. “It’s a lot of people who are and they have to hide, and there’s people who have mental issues and they have to hide. There’s people who have different problems in life and they have to hide. They have to put on the mask every day, and it’s like, I don’t wanna wear no mask, I just wanna be.”
As we previously reported, an openly gay man named Masin Elije filed a suit against Howard back in March, alleging the two dated before Elije eventually called it quits because Howard was allegedelly creeping with other men and trans women. Elije says Howard and his pastor, Calvin Simmons, tried to silence him with a non-disclosure agreement and “hush money,” per Newsweek.
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Calvin works for Dwight and Calvin begun to get irate, disrespectful and homophobic as I continued to deny his “hush money” and said I wasn’t signing the NDA! He tried to insult my intelligence telling me Dwight doesn’t know me and “I never spoke to dwight” Despite me meeting him pic.twitter.com/UksdSj4np2
— Ah-Mazìn (@MasinElije) November 25, 2018
Howard, who has denied the allegations, admits the claims against him “hurt at first.”
“It ended up being a situation that was… it went viral. People were talking about it, and it upset me because I didn’t even know who the person was,” he said. “Why would somebody who I never met, never had any contact with, make up a whole story about me. I saw all the hate, the pure hate, from people that I’ve never met before, just pile up everywhere I went.”
Howard maintains he has never met Elije, but says the gossip surrounding his sexuality “set me free.”
“I went through a situation last year that kind of, um, just, it really just set me free,” he told Leahy. “I think that liberated me, because I saw how a lot of people would feel, whether they’re gay or they’re straight, or whether they have issues, people are afraid to be who they are,” he continued. “They’re afraid to just step out and be, like you said, because they’re afraid of what other people might say or think about them. And so that situation made me realize, you not like this, but just be you, be free.”
Meanwhile, former Celtic Kendrick Perkins weighed in on Dwight addressing rumors about his sexuality by suggesting in a post that he’s lying about not being gay — peep what he had to say via the tweets below and the reactions to his comments from users:
that boy lying https://t.co/AqvlOkBnNF
— B-Moe (@bmoe_careful) July 16, 2019
I don’t care what that man do to be honest but man up and don’t lie about it!??♂️
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) July 16, 2019
Yes I do. Let’s just sit back and wait to see who or if he sign with anybody. Listen GMs don’t want any distractions in a locker room especially from a Vet. Culture is everything now a days in the NBA!
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) July 16, 2019
Listen I’m just telling you the real. I’m not speaking for myself Because like I said before I don’t care what that man do with his life but if you put him in locker room it will be guys whispering and talking about him and that situation. It’s the truth and it’s no way around it
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) July 16, 2019
Listen I have gay family members that I’m cool with it and that I love dearly! Your missing the point here. GMs look at things like this. Period! Sorry but it’s the truth
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) July 16, 2019
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