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Dwight Howard has found himself embroiled in a lawsuit after being accused of sexual assault by a man named Stephen Harper. This has evoked memories of a previous lawsuit filed by another person, Masin Elije, in 2018.
Elije is an American author born on August 3, 1995. His most well-known work is a book called "Industry H*e." The author identifies as gay and has gained traction on the internet for his involvement with the former NBA star.
According to reports, his parents are both real estate agents. Elije reportedly graduated from Florida State University and has a degree in English. He also has a huge social media following of around 46.5k on Instagram and 46.9k on X (formerly Twitter).
Back in 2018, Elije claimed he was in a relationship with Howard. According to the author, he was given hush money to prevent leaking any information about their alleged relationship.
You might also be interested in reading this: What happened with Dwight Howard and Masin Elije? Incident revisited amid Stephen Harper lawsuit
What are Masin Elije's claims about Howard?
Elije claimed he was threatened and harassed by Howard and his pastor online. It escalated to a point where the three-time Defensive Player of the Year winner allegedly reached out to the author to get him to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
However, he was met with a lawsuit filed by Elije. The former center for the Orlando Magic denied the claims and tried clearing his name back in 2019.
"It ended up being a situation that was, it went viral," Howard said. "People were talking about it, and it upset me because I didn't even know who the person was. Why would somebody, who I never met, never had any contact with, make up a whole story about me? I saw all the hate, the pure hate, from people that I've never met before, just pile up everywhere I went.
"I'm not gay. It's a lot of people who are and they have to hide, and there's people who have mental issues and they have to hide. There's people who have different problems in life and they have to hide.
