In an Instagram Live stream, Dwight Howard has responded to the sexual assault lawsuit filed against him by a man, and the subsequent speculation regarding his sexuality.
"Y'all can stop with the nonsense, worried about all this bullcrap. Mind your business," said Howard in a response, as seen below. "That's the problem with y'all people, y'all worried about who people spend their time with. Whatever I'm doing in my bedroom is my damn business. Whatever you're doing in your bedroom is your damn business, that ain't for everybody."
He stressed that he believes people don't need to tell people about what they get up to behind closed doors and neither does he. "You ain't gotta explain that to nobody, no matter what they say," he continued. "They can say anything, who gives two shits? Y'all too damn nosey worried about what I'm doing in my bed. Hell, the people who know whats going on in my bed, they know what the hell going on with my bed and what the hell I do in it. That ain't for everybody on the internet. That ain't for no blogs, that ain't for no websites. I ain't gotta tell nobody where I put my wood at, since y'all wanna get to it."
He went on to call people speculating on his sexuality "weird," and added, "'Oh shoot, y'all heard about that Dwight, they said Dwight was text messaging a guy.' N***a, who cares?!" he said. "You just mad I wasn't text messaging your ugly ass."
He also indirectly responded to the accusations leveled against him in the lawsuit. "Stop worrying about it. I ain't gotta deny it, I don't gotta talk about none of that crap," he said. "This shit didn't even happen. You worried about the wrong stuff. That's why it's called an accusation. Allegedly. Come on, man."
As reported earlier this week, a lawyer for the former Lakers player said "a private consensual encounter" between Howard and a man named Stephen Harpert had been "made public for profit." Harper accused Howard of sexual assault during an encounter at the former NBA player's Georgia residence in July 2021.
In Harper's civil lawsuit, he included alleged Instagram messages between himself and Howard in 2021 alongside an Uber receipt to his residence. Harper told police about the allegations a year after, although no charges were filed.
"The allegations against Mr. Howard are contested," Howard's attorney Justin Bailey told ESPN. "Mr. Howard intends to present the truth. The truth is Mr. Howard blocked Mr. Harper on social media and then was confronted with two options—pay to protect his reputation or have a fabricated story made public. Despite being an easy target due to the subject matter and his status as a celebrity, Mr. Howard chose to trust in the justice system and will rely on all future court filings to speak for themselves."
