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Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin has denied allegations made by BuzzFeed that he helped cover up a rape committed by four of his players, calling the charges "baseless," via The Tennessean.
During his weekly press conference, Franklin addressed the BuzzFeed story, and had harsh words regarding the incident, while still managing to keep his sympathies squarely with the alleged victim.
"There's nobody that understands the seriousness of this situation more than me," Franklin said. "I could not be more sympathetic to the alleged victim. It's a very, very serious issue, and I'm not going to waste your time or mine reacting to baseless statements. I'm not going to do it."
BuzzFeed published a story Saturday in which an anonymous source close to the defendants alleged Franklin encouraged one of the players to delete a video of the alleged rape. According to the source:
A source close to one of the defendants said he believes that Franklin encouraged a player to delete a video of the incident after the player showed it to Franklin."I'm 99.9 percent sure that Franklin saw the video," the source said. "And I wouldn't be surprised if the public finds this out soon."
Franklin made a denial through a spokesperson that was included in the original BuzzFeed story.
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