The Portland Trail Blazers’ hire of Chauncey Billups as their new head coach continues to come with controversy.
The former NBA star, who won a championship with the Detroit Pistons, was introduced during a press conference on Tuesday and opened by addressing the sexual assault allegations from 1997 against him, saying that they “shaped my life in so many different ways.”
A reporter later asked Billups to elaborate on that, but before Billups could answer, a member of the Blazers PR team immediately interjected and refused to allow Billups to answer the question.
The decision to not allow Billups to speak for himself about the allegation sparked some backlash on social media and only seemed to draw further negative attention to the hire.
General manager Neil Olshey addressed the allegations on Tuesday, saying the organization conducted their own independent investigation.
“The findings of that corroborated Chauncey’s recollection of events, that nothing non-consensual happened,” he said. “We stand by Chuancey, everyone iin the organization, and believe he’s the right person to be our head coach and the right choice to be an ambassador in the Portland community everyone is accustomed to.”
No criminal charges were ever filed against Billups, but a civil lawsuit was settled with the victim in 2000.
Here’s Billups’ full statement on the allegations from the beginning of his press conference:
"Before I even talk about my role with the team and me being the head coach, I first want to talk about ... the incident that happened in 1997," he said, per ESPN. "There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about how every decision we make could have a profound impact on a person's life. I learned at a very young age as a player, but not only [as] a player but [as] a young man, a young adult, that every decision has consequences. And that's led to some really, really healthy but tough conversations that I've had to have with my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time in 1997, and my daughters about what actually happened and what they may have to read about me in the news and the media.
"But this experience has shaped my life in so many different ways. My decision-making, obviously. Who I allow to be in my life, the friendships and relationships I have and how I go about them. It's impacted every decision that I make and it's shaped me in some unbelievable ways. I know how important it is to have the right support system around you, particularly in tough, difficult times."
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