Basketball star Dwight Howard denies sexually assaulting man during threesome
Dwight Howard has been accused of sexual assault (Cole Burston/Getty Images)
Former NBA star Dwight Howard has denied sexually assaulting a man during a threesome, and has asked for the case be dismissed.
According to court documents, Howard, who currently plays for the Taoyuan Leopards in Taiwan, met his accuser through Instagram before they started texting each other.
The pair messaged for months, and the texts “included sexually explicit content, such as photographs and videos”, before they met up in July 2021.
In his lawsuit, the accuser claims he went to Howard’s home where the two men began to kiss and removed their clothes.
Howard then introduced a person dressed as a woman, named Kitty, to the accuser and demanded they have a threesome, it is claimed.
The alleged victim said he did not wish to participate in group sex but Howard still attempted to touch his thigh and stroked his “penis through his underwear.”
When asked to stop by the victim, the basketball star allegedly said he was “going to do whatever” and the accuser was “going to like it”, before proceeding to force the victim to give, and receive, oral sex.
According to RadarOnline.com, the lawsuit reads: “Defendant stood up (towering over [the victim]), grabbed [the victim] by the thighs, forcibly removed [his] underwear, restrained him and performed non-consensual oral sex on him.
“[The victim] feared imminent bodily harm when he was restrained and forced to remain in place while the defendant continued to sexually assault him.”
The oral sex is said to have ended when Howard realised the victim was not enjoying it.
The lawsuit accuses Howard of assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment.
The former Los Angeles Lakers centre, who also played for the Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic, has denied any wrongdoing and said all the sexual activity was consensual.
Dwight Howard ‘hurt’ by gay rumours in 2019
The NBA player previously spoke in 2019 on rumours about his sexuality, saying that “it hurt” but added that the experienced showed him “pure hate” towards LGBTQ+ people.
“I saw all the hate, the pure hate, from people that I never met before just pile up everywhere I went against me… and that liberated me because I saw how a lot of people would feel, whether they’re gay or they’re straight, whether they have issues,” he told Fox Sports at the time.
