'as you may already know, after my tour ended i remained out of the country undergoing treatment for a dependency on pain medication...there have been many disgusting statements made recently concerning allegations of improper conduct on my part. these statements about me are totally false...i will say i am particularly upset by the handling of the mass—matter by the incredible, terrible mass media. at every opportunity, the media has dissected and manipulated these allegations to reach their own conclusions. i ask all of you to wait and hear the truth before you label or condemn me. don't treat me like a criminal, because i am innocent. i have been forced to submit to a dehumanizing and humiliating examination...it was the most humiliating ordeal of my life...but if this is what i have to endure to prove my innocence, my complete innocence, so be it.'