It's taken Crisp Rat this long to say he's never been to Hillside just because he didn't want to "throw a church under a bus".

Three years is a little long to wait for damage control, my guy.

If he'd hopped on this instantly, then he could've saved his reputation some damage.

...I think either he or someone writing about the connection must have said that already, because I somehow already knew that despite paying exactly 0 attention to celebrity news

(and I'm leaning toward the latter)

Must've been someone doing their research, because I haven't heard of him addressing it before.

Very well could have been. The main reason I lean that way is because if he'd come out and said it himself before, I'd be surprised if that wasn't already it's own chapter in the story.

it'd feel like someone saying they'd heard of Watergate but didn't know Nixon denied any wrongdoing