Deshaun Watson has maintained his innocence despite 22 different women accusing him of sexual assault, but the Houston Texans star has now admitted that his relationship with some of the massage therapists was not exactly professional.
Watson’s legal team held a press conference on Friday afternoon in which they enthusiastically defended the quarterback’s character. Rusty Hardin, Watson’s lead defense attorney, said there were times when Watson had “consensual encounters” with some of the alleged victims.
Rusty Hardin admits Deshaun Watson did have consensual relationships with some of the massage therapists but he does not believe Watson coerced, or did anything non-consensual with the woman accusing of sexual assault pic.twitter.com/jWOp2EyT9W
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) April 9, 2021
“We deeply, deeply do not believe this guy ever did anything nonconsensual with any woman during any of this,” Hardin said. “He didn’t coerce them. We don’t believe he used his position. We don’t believe he intimidated them. We simply do not. Were there sometimes consensual encounters? Yes.”
Some have questioned why Watson needed so many different massage therapists, and Hardin also addressed that. He attributed it to spas being shut down during the pandemic and Watson searching for therapists via direct messages because “millennials live on Instagram.”
Rusty Hardin defends Deshaun Watson looking for massage therapists on Instagram during pandemic "He gets 2-3 massages a week, that's 120-150 massages a year, spas shut down in 2020 "
"Millenials live on Instagram, Deshaun lives on Instagram he does business transactions on i pic.twitter.com/MNbyiKCsTy
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) April 9, 2021
The identities of at least a dozen women who have accused Watson of sexual assault will soon be revealed. Nine of the alleged victims have volunteered to publicly reveal their identities, and several others will have to due to a court ruling on Friday.
One of the alleged victims, Ashley Solis, delivered a powerful statement this week in which she spoke about how Watson’s alleged misconduct has negatively impacted her career and life. You can see that video here.
Watson’s defense is that he had consensual sexual encounters with some massage therapists and that all of the 22 women are lying in some form. Hardin previously claimed that Watson was the victim of a blackmail attempt in at least one of the case.
