Rev. Al Sharpton would not admit the Tawana Brawley rape case he drove to national prominence was a hoax on Morning Joe Tuesday, saying he had no regrets getting involved and would respond the same way if a woman today made similar claims.

Brawley claimed she was kidnapped and gang-raped by white men, including a police officer and local prosecutor, in 1987. The story became a national sensation and was a career-maker for Sharpton, who was largely unknown at the time.

But after a long investigation revealed Brawley's claims to be false, it was dropped. Brawley finally began making defamation payments in August for her false accusations in the case, but Sharpton would still admit no fault Tuesday for his controversial involvement.



"We have the facts and the evidence that an assistant district attorney and a state trooper did this," Sharpton said at the time, according to the New York Times:

Tuesday, as he was promoting his new book, Sharpton did not back off.

"If I was called today by a young lady who made those claims, I would respond the same way," Sharpton said.

Co-host Willie Geist pressed Sharpton, asking if he regretted what he put the men through that wound up being innocent.

"Why would you regret standing up for someone, in any of those cases?" Sharpton asked. "Brawley made a claim. Bill Cosby and everyone rallied around her before I did. Why would I say that I should not come to the defense of someone who had made a claim, and those that had been accused never would come before a grand jury at that time that we got involved."

"But knowing what you know now, that it was a fabrication," Geist said.

"What do I know now, that a grand jury didn't believe her?" he asked. "A jury didn't believe Trayvon Martin's family. I believe there was enough reason to go to court on that case, which is what we advocate, just like I believed in other cases."

"You don't believe the Tawana Brawley case was a hoax?" Geist asked.

"I believe that the basis of our involvement that this prosecutor should have moved forward and brought this into court was absolutely the right position to take, and that was the position we took," Sharpton replied.

The Huffington Post reported on defamation damages beginning to be paid in August from Brawley: