MICHAEL PHELPS - JAY-Z DEFENDS PHELPS OVER DRUG SCANDAL

JAY-Z DEFENDS PHELPS OVER DRUG SCANDAL

Rapper JAY-Z has defended swimming star MICHAEL PHELPS for his involvement in a drugs scandal - putting the incident down to the athlete's young age.
The 23-year-old was pictured in a British newspaper earlier this year (Feb09) holding a glass pipe associated with marijuana use at a party in Columbia, South Carolina that took place in November (08).
He swiftly apologised for the shots, calling his behaviour "regrettable" and blaming his "bad judgment".
But hip-hop mogul Jay-Z insists the public should not judge Phelps over the scandal, insisting the young athlete will learn from his mistakes as he gets older.
He tells Cigar Aficionado magazine, “You look at all these people who graduated from Princeton and Harvard, who are supposed to be pillars of the community - every day (they’re) in the newspaper arrested for some kind of financial fraud.
"Then you look at someone like Michael Phelps. He’s 23. What’s he gonna do? He’s a kid. He’s going to experiment.”