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Peterson's personal life has come under scrutiny since he was indicted on child-abuse charges in September.
The paper reported that Peterson had fathered six children by six women in three states. The report also contained allegations related to his sex life (one of his relatives reportedly used a company credit card to pay for a room where an orgy took place in 2011), and his charity, Adrian Peterson's All Day Foundation.
From the report:
"In 2009, the charity said its largest gift, $70,000, went to Straight From the Heart Ministries in Laurel, Md. But Donna Farley, president and founder of the Maryland organization, said it never received any money from Peterson's foundation. 'There have been no outside [contributions] other than people in my own circle,' said Farley. "Adrian Peterson - definitely not.'"
In a series of tweets on Tuesday night, Peterson denied various parts of the story. He accused the paper of misreporting his charity's alleged mismanagement, and denied the allegation about the orgy. He attributed the disparities in where his charity funds were going to the mistakes of an employee who was later fired, and directed people to an ESPN article about the foundation from August.
His response came in the form of screenshots of text messages sent to his phone. The 11 points (h/t Deadspin):
Journalism 101:
1. My uncle and I never owned a Foundation Credit Card
2. ESPN contacted the CORRECT Foundation to clarify issues
3. ESPN found:SRAIGHT FROM THE HEART based in California confirmed receiving donations, NOT S.F.T.H based in Maryland. A Fired CPA incorrectly listed MD but ESPN followed up by contacting the CORRECT Foundation.
4. California Straight From the Heart confirmed receiving donations!!!
5. East Texas Food Bank confirmed donation received . North Texas was incorrectly listed on 990 by a firm later fired by Foundation (ESPN reporter confirmed.)
6. Make headlines by calling something an orgy (even though it was not) and incorrectly saying a Foundation card was used even though my uncle and I never owned one. ( All Day INC is a TOTALLY different entity than THE A.P All Day Foundation.
7. Do not retract the false allegation because everyone believes the false allegation because it was printed first.
8. Do not repost the ESPN story from August when I admit I was promiscuous, made mistakes and had to change by ways.
9. Instead Repost the story about father children out of wedlock..creates more buzz and retweets.
10. I guess never let the truth get in the way of a great story
11. Take time to be GREAT and to get it right .
The tweets: