Disgraced former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky admitted to showering
and “horsing around” with young boys, but claimed that he is not a
pedophile in an interview last night with NBC News’ Bob Costas.
After insisting on his innocence, Sandusky was asked to elaborate:
Costas: Innocent? Completely innocent and falsely accused in every aspect?
Sandusky: I have done some of those things. I have horsed around with kids, I have showered after workouts. I have hugged them and I have touched their leg without intent of sexual contact so if you look at it that way there are things that would be accurate.
He was also asked about the alleged 2002 incident in Lasch Hall in which graduate assistant Mike McQueary witnessed him raping a 10- or 11-year-old boy.
Costas: What did happen in the shower that night that Mike McQueary happened upon you and the young boy?
Sandusky: We were showering and horsing around and he actually turned all the showers on and was actually sliding across the floor, and we were, as I recall, possibly like slapping a towel, horseplay.
But the segment of the interview that will likely incriminate Sandusky in the court of public opinion was the coach’s couched response when asked whether he was sexually attracted to underage boys.
Costas: Are you sexually attracted to young boys, to underage boys?
Sandusky: Am I sexually attracted to underage boys? Sexually attracted? You know, I enjoy young people, I love to be around them, I, I…but no, I’m not sexually attracted to young boys.
Allegations of indecent contact date back to 1994, according to a
grand jury report, which detailed abuse in hotels, Penn State locker
rooms and Sandusky’s home. Though he was banned from bringing minors on
campus in 2002 after a witness reportedly saw him molesting a boy, he
violated the ban at least once, the report says.
Sandusky met his alleged victims through the Second Mile charity, which he founded in 1977 as a group home for at risk boys. He surrendered his daily duties with the organization in 2010.
Sandusky is currently free on $100,000 bond.
