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Sandusky to Costas: “I Am Not a Pedophile.”

In case you missed it, Jerry Sandusky was interviewed on NBC’s “Rock Center” by Bob Costas.

The first thing I tried to understand is why Sandusky’s lawyer advised him to do the interview… Seems like he might be taking lessons from Penn State’s PR team. With that said, it was one of the toughest 10 minutes of television that I’ve ever watched. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that on TV, national TV, nonetheless.

Time for some quotes:

Bob Costas: Mr. Sandusky, there’s a 40-count indictment, the grand report contains specific detail. There are multiple accusers, multiples witnesses to various aspects of the abuse. A reasonable person says where there’s this much smoke, there must be plenty of fire. What do you say?

Jerry Sandusky: I say that I’m innocent of those charges.

Costas: Innocent? Completely innocent and falsely accused in every aspect?

Sandusky: Well, I could say that 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. But, so if you look at it that way, there are things that… would be accurate.

Costas: Are you denying that you had an inappropriate sexual contact with any of these underage boys?

Sandusky: Yes I am.

——————————————————————————————————————–

So what he’s saying here is that he touched little boy’s legs in the shower, but didn’t have any sexual intent? Best case scenario is that he’s one sick dude. Worst case? I’ll let you fill in the blanks.

Sandusky then denies both of the incidents involving Mike McQueary and the janitor. He claims that he was “horsing around” with the child during the alleged incident in which McQueary saw.

———————————————————————————————————————-

The next part of the interview was with Sandusky’s lawyer:

Costas: You said a few days ago that “much more is going to come out in our defense.” In broad terms, what?

Lawyer: We expect we’re going to have a number of kids. Now how many of those so-called eight kids, we’re not sure. But we anticipate we’re going to have at least several of those kids come forward and say “this never happened. This is me. This is the allegation. It never occurred.” In fact, one of the toughest allegations, the McQueary violations. What McQueary said he saw, we have information that that child said that never happened. Now grown up, now the person is in his twenties.

Costas: Until now, we were told that that alleged victim could not be identified.

Lawyer: By the commonwealth.

Costas: You have identified him?

Lawyer: We think we have.

Costas: So you found him, the commonwealth has not.

Lawyer: Yeah. Interesting, isn’t it?

Costas: Would you allow your own children to be alone with your client?

Lawyer: Absolutely. I believe in Jerry’s innocence. Quite honestly, Bob, that’s why I’m involved in the case. If I..

Costas: You believe in his innocence? Not just that you can mitigate his guilt, you believe in his innocence.

Lawyer: I believe in his innocence.

———————————————————————————————————————–

This is rather interesting, Sandusky’s lawyer (who knocked up a 17-year old) thinks that he has found the victim in the McQueary incident. He found him in only 10 days and the state didn’t? I have a tough time believing that. The lawyer also says he’d leave his kids with Sandusky. While this sounds surprising and even maddening, this is just the lawyer publicly backing Sandusky, which is typical in most legal cases.

———————————————————————————————————————–

After Sandusky explains that Joe Paterno didn’t ever confront him on sexual abuse, this conversation took place:

Costas: How would you define the part you played? What are you willing to concede that you’ve done that was wrong and you wish you had not done it?

Sandusky: Well… I shouldn’t have showered with those kids.

Costas: That’s it?

Sandusky: Yeah, well, that’s what hits me the most.

Costas: Are you a pedophile?

Sandusky: No.

Costas: Are you sexually attracted to young boys?

Sandusky: Am I sexually attracted to underage boys?

Costas: Yes.

Sandusky: …. Sexually attracted. You know, no. I enjoy young people. I love to be around them. I love to be around them… um. I… I, but no, I’m not sexually attracted to young boys.

————————————————————————————————————————-

I guess touching little boys’ legs in the shower is not of pedophiliac nature according to Mr. Sandusky. More importantly, I want to draw your attention to that last line. Per Deadspin, when asked if he was sexually attracted to young boys, it took Jerry Sandusky 16.3 seconds to say the word “No.” What the hell was there to think about there? Listen to the video and tell me something doesn’t sound fishy there.

I think it’s worth commending Costas on the Chris Hansen-like interrogation of Sandusky. It was a very intense, bizarre, and rather sick interview, but you have to give him credit for the inquisitive effort given the situation. Costas held a stone cold “I’m going to get to the bottom of this” look for the the interview’s entirety.

Lastly, I want to mention that the tone of Sandusky’s voice told me more than any of his words. He sounded dreadfully weak, desperately scared, and absolutely…

Guilty.

Watch the entire segment here: MSNBC

Read the entire transcript here: Crossing Broad

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About the Author

Ryan Beckler

Ryan is a senior in the Smeal College of Business majoring in Marketing. He is a Lion Ambassador who loves giving tours to prospective students. His favorite activities include distributing news and consuming Chipotle.

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