On Wednesday, Washington Wizard's center Dwight Howard issued a response to the lawsuit filed against him by Masin Elije.
"I don't know this person, never seen him," Howard said to TMZ Sports. "Any allegation said about me is false."
Howard's comments come after it was reported that Elije, who identifies as a gay man, was suing the former-NBA All-Star for trying to harass him into signing a non-disclosure agreement. Although the lawsuit does not detail what Howard was trying to hide, Elije revealed the nature of their alleged relationship in Nov. 2018 via a series of tweets.
According to Elije, the two met at a Wild'n Out party and their relationship began to grow. Elije then goes on to say that the two stopped dating due to Howard's infidelity. Elije then alleges that after cutting things off with the athlete, Howard used his Pastor, Calvin Simmons, to harass, shame, and threaten him into signing an NDA and taking "hush money." This led Elije to contact the police and post a series of alleged conversations with Dwight as evidence.
The fiasco came to a head in March when it was made known that Elije had filed a suit against Howard in a Gwinnett County, GA court. But, Howard—who recently got engaged to South Carolina University star basketball Te'a Cooper—claims that Elije is conducting this elaborate hoax for financial gain. Howard tells TMZ that he plans to respond to the lawsuit with legal actions in hopes to curb this "money grab."
