Former NBA star Dwight Howard has denied sexual assault and battery allegations filed against him earlier this year and asked Georgia court to dismiss the civil lawsuit he’s facing.
WHAT ALLEGEDLY WENT DOWN
According to court documents, Howard met a man named Stephen Harper via Instagram in May of 2021 before they started texting each other “sexually explicit content”.
The pair met up in July of 2021 when Harper went to Dwight’s home and the pair started kissing and took off their clothes.
In the lawsuit first reported by RadarOnline, Harper claimed Howard surprised him by bringing out another man dressed as a woman, who referred to himself as “Kitty”.
The accuser said he didn’t want to participate in group sex and asked Howard to stop, as he stroked his “penis through his underwear.”
Howard apparently said he would do whatever he likes.
“Defendant stood up (towering over Mr. Harper), grabbed Mr. Harper by the thighs, forcibly removed Mr. Harper’s underwear, held Mr. Harper down, and performed nonconsensual oral sex on Mr. Harper,” the suit read. “Mr. Harper was in fear of imminent bodily harm when he was pinned down and forced to remain in place while Defendant continued to sexually assault him.”
The lawsuit accuses Howard of assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment.
The plaintiff went to police a year later to report the incident in July 0f 2022 , according to a report from the Gwinnett County Police Department.
No charges were filed.
HOW DWIGHT IS RESPONDING
Howard denies the allegations of false imprisonment, infliction of emotional distress and that he sexually assaulted Harper or forced him to receive or perform any sexual acts.
The former Lakers champion has demanded the entire lawsuit be thrown out.
In his response, Howard also denied that Harper was surprised by the third man and said, “Plaintiff was aware that would also be arriving at the home prior to Plaintiff even arriving at Defendant’s home.”
“The three agreed to touch one another and to engage in consensual sexual activity,” Howard’s lawyer wrote.
One of Dwight’s attorney’s spoke to ESPN on the matter.
“What was a private consensual encounter was made public for profit and Mr. Howard looks forward to bringing the truth to light in a court of law,” one of Howard’s attorneys, Justin Bailey, told ESPN. “The allegations against Mr. Howard are contested. 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.”
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