Dwight Howard has officially given a statement regarding the sexual assault lawsuit filed against him and is calling the whole situation a simple pursuit of money and greed.
On Saturday, Complex obtained a statement from the eight-time NBA All-Star addressing all the allegations that have been put out against him. According to the statement released by Howard and his team, the issue has never been about sexual assault, and the person suing him is only looking for money and greed. Howard also stated that the man, named Stephen Harper, has also been doing this for a while, where he's made several attempts to get money out of him.
Below is Dwight Howard's statement in full.
"This is a civil case that was made public for profit. In this case, the accuser is solely suing Dwight Howard and has refrained from suing the other party in which he claims to be involved. It is important to know that these matters were NEVER about sexual assault. This was merely about money and greed. Such individuals, have made continuous attempts to elicit payment from Dwight. This has resulted in intimidation of not only Dwight, his family and friends have also been targeted as well."
The accuser took to social media, only after being ignored by Howard.
Over the duration of several years the accuser has set out to hire attorneys whom either declined the case or dropped the case after payment from Dwight was denied.
Dwight hopes that people spend as much time covering his innocence, his numerous ventures to improve the lives of people through his global initiatives, his efforts to improve the quality of life of all people, despite race, creed, culture, sex, sexual orientation, and others.
Through efforts like his 750 acre farm, his community outreach, and his 18-year track record of global philanthropy, Dwight looks forward to fans, viewers and spectators alike to focus their time and energy on what matters, which are the positive endeavors that Dwight is actively working on for community, with negativity as the least important focus.
In the past, people have tried to take advantage of Dwight, by attempting to use blackmail for money by fabricating stories and taking advantage of his kind nature.
By taking immediate action, Dwight's legal team is aggressively pursuing anyone who is online or otherwise attempting to go after his name with false claims. Dwight strongly empathizes with any real cases of sexual assault and believes that fabricated stories as such make it difficult for the real victims of true crimes to come forth.
The statement continues:
"Assault has never been an element in Dwight's character and he has never sexually assaulted ANYONE. The insensitivity of the individuals making such claims to damage his reputation is unfortunate. However, Howard plans to continue to live his life with grace and not let such false claims ruin his joy + spirit."
In July, Stephen Harper filed a state civil lawsuit against the 2020 NBA champion, accusing him of sexual assault, battery, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress from an encounter at Howard's Georgia residence in 2021. Harper's lawsuit included alleged Instagram messages between himself and Howard in 2021, along with an Uber receipt to his residence. Harper didn't tell police about the incident until a year later, but no charges were filed.
Earlier this week, Howard took to Instagram Live to speak to all the critics who had something to say about what he does in the privacy of his bedroom.
"Y'all can stop with the nonsense, worried about all this bullcrap. Mind your business," said Howard in his response. "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 continued, "You ain't gotta explain that to nobody, no matter what they say. 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 what's 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."
