Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps made headlines last January when a picture of the gold medalist smoking marijuana was posted in a British newspaper.

A number of people have spoken out against Phelps and others in support of the swimmer. In a recent interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine rapper Jay-Z explained that people shouldn’t be so quick to shun Phelps after one mistake.

“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,” Jay-Z explained. “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.”

A fan of rap, Phelps is sure to be elated by Jay-Z’s comments. Last year Phelps expressed his love for Hip Hop in an interview with Time  magazine [click to read].

“I listen to hip hop and rap to sort of help me get focused, to get ready to get up and do what I'm there do. It helps me to tune everything out, and take one step at time,” Phelps told Time magazine when asked what he listens to before races. “A lot of the new stuff is what I have on my MP3 player. I don't really have any favorites, but right now, it might be Young Jeezy; I just listen to whatever comes on.”

Shortly after the pictures of Phelps smoking marijuana were published, he issued an apology explaining that he “acted in a youthful and inappropriate way” and that he greatly regrets what he did.