PJ Hairston comes clean about scamming North Carolina fans: "It is no rumor"

PJ Hariston scammed UNC basketball fans by promising them authentic North Carolina merchandise, only to block them after receiving their payments.

This situation came to light on social media, as fans who thought they were buying gear from one of their favorite Tar Heels ended up being a complete rip off.

While Hairston had been silent on the matter, the truth was revealed when the former Tar Heel made a special appearance on the Run Your Race Podcast, hosted by fellow former UNC basketball star Theo Pinson.

Check out the video below to watch Hairston explain the situation, and view the transcript below for everything he had to say in the clip.

"It is no f***ing rumor now. It's, it's out there. Yeah. It is what it is. You know, I went through a phase. I was, I was in a real, real, real, real bad place—dark, dark place in life, and no. I was f***ing getting into it with my mom and s***.

Like I, when I came back, I was living with my mom. Because during this process, I was getting a house built. That's the other reason why all of this shit kind of f***ed me up. I was getting a house built out in Summerfield, like out, you know? Out in the country, man. So I'm like, I'm f***ed up.

Yeah. And then at this, at this time, you feel like you by yourself too. Yeah. Oh man, bro. And mind you, this is like, now, now we're in like 21. Yeah. Like after everything. That's after Covid, yeah. After all that s***. Like, f*** the Covid made s*** even work worse.

Then it's like, and now I have a son, right? So like, now I got a son, no money. What the f*** am I gonna do? Right? Like, what the f*** am I gonna do? So me and my mom ended up getting into it. I moved out my mom's house, go to my dad's house. My dad got a collection of all of my Carolina s***.

Literally from, from the f***ing practice socks to the f***ing warmups. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Like every f***ing thing you can think of. I'm sitting in the garage smoking one day, and I see that box sitting there. I said, I'm not gonna do that. I said, f*** it. I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. And then the next day I went back out there, emptied that whole f***ing box of shit in my truck, and I drove off. I started selling the s*** and it was legit at first, right? Like it was legit at first. I was really selling the s***, I was really sending the s*** out. But that's when that greed kicked in. That greed kicked in and I wasn't thinking about nobody else.

I was thinking about what PJ needed, right? You know, so when I'm doing the s***. I know what the f*** could happen. I know all it's gonna take is one person to say, oh, PJ doing it. I know that. But that didn't stop me. Cause at this point I'm greedy. I'm seeing how much money the s*** is bringing me.

I'm greedy at this point. Yeah. So like I did the s***, bro, like two years straight. Two years f***ing straight bro. I mean, and now that I look at it, I'm disgusted about this s*** for real? Sometimes it really made me sick to my stomach, 'cause like I let so many f***ing people down, like teammates. people that found out about it. So to anybody that like that I've hurt, that I've caused pain to, that I've caused financial trouble to, I'm deeply sorry. I wasn't thinking that I was lost. I didn't really have an outlet because I'm bumping heads with everybody that I'm talking to.

I don't really have friends. Because I don't trust nobody, right? Now I'm in this phase where I don't trust no fucking body. I don't know who the f*** is out to get me. My mental (state) is f***ed up. Everything about me is just f***ed up. It got to the point where I was having suicidal thoughts, bro.

I just wish it never happened. I wish it stayed legit. I wish I could really take back all the s*** that like I put people through that I've taken from people and granted, the people I work for now, the team we're working on something to kind of at the end of the year, you know, put together some where I actually really give out jerseys or money and just give back as much as I possibly can."

Of course, what PJ Hairston did was wrong on many levels. The former Tar Heel scammed plenty of people who were likely big-time fans of his, changing the perception of how fans feel about him ever since the story originally surfaced.

While his actions are disappointing, it's sad to hear him confirm that he was in a dark place. The hope is that he's working toward getting out of that dark place, as mental health struggles are not easy to deal with by any means.

He likely won't get the chance to ever make it up to the people he scammed, but what he can do is look to do better moving forward. Admitting he was wrong was a major step in the right direction, as the hope is now that he continues on this path toward helping others while being a better person in the process.

Let's face it: we all make mistakes. It's really how you move on from them that proves the person's true character.

Check out the entire episode of the Run Your Race Podcast, featuring PJ Hairston, below: