Press Releases
Rev. Al Sharpton and NAN Regarding Megan Williams
—Rev. Sharpton was contacted by Attorneys for Megan Williams yesterday who apologized to him on behalf of Ms. Williams for accepting a Christmas gift from him under false pretenses. Three-and-a-half months after Ms. Williams made her claim and after arrests and charges had been made, Reverend Sharpton went to West Virginia at the request of her supporters because he was advised that she was going through difficult times and was going to testify and that she had no resources for Christmas.
Reverend Sharpton went to West Virginia and stated that hate crimes should be investigated and he gave her $1000 from his pocket of his personal money. Reverend Sharpton did not participate in any marches and rallies but did follow it on his radio show as most media did.
According to Reverend Sharpton: “When I received the call yesterday I urged her attorneys to go public if in fact, she was recanting, and I sent the prosecutors a letter who the attorney claimed was ignoring him. I urged him not to ignore the claims if in fact Ms. Williams is recanting. And despite the extensive records of the accused, they should then not be incarcerated.
If they are being held under false information and she misled authorities and if the authorities went solely on her testimony, then they should be released. If there are other circumstances around the recanting we should know what they are. We did not handle this case nor were we involved in the investigation or rallies and we have no knowledge other than what was in the public media. Our involvement surrounded a call for hate crime investigations and we did not know the truths or non truths of the investigation.”