John Stamos On Lori Loughlin’s College Admissions Scandal: She Wasn’t The ‘Architect’

John Stamos is defending former “Full House” co-star Lori Loughlin for her role in the 2019 college admissions scandal that made headlines.

The 59-year-old actor was a guest on the “Armchair Expert” podcast on Nov. 14 and he explained why he is still friends with Loughlin after she pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud.

During his conversation with host Dax Shepard, Stamos mentioned Loughlin and the “Parenthood” alum immediately started gushing about how much he loves the “When Call the Heart” actor.

“I like her,” Shepard said. “I can just tell you what it was like to work with her. I found her to be so f---ing lovely.”

He continued, “Look, she got her kids into school illegally. I don’t agree with it.” However, Shepard said people make mistakes, so he still supports Loughlin.

Stamos agreed with Shepard’s take and replied, “Well, she also paid a lot of money. She set up a college fund, a million dollars or whatever, for kids. And she went to f---ing jail, man.”

The “Big Shot” actor then joked that he would have expected other “Full House” cast members like himself, Jodie Sweetin or the late Bob Saget to be more likely to go to jail.

Stamos added, “I’m going to say this and (Loughlin) said I could. She wasn’t really the architect of any of it. She was in the way background. She really didn’t know what was going on.”

Shepard chimed in and shared he would still speak highly of Loughlin even if the scandal was her idea because he has cared for others who have been responsible for worse things.

“What people love to do is to make it relative to the poor Black woman who spent eight years in jail for saying that their address was wrong. That’s horrendous on its own, and that’s a total miscarriage of justice. And we can have outrage about that without having to make it relative to Lori Loughlin. We have enough capacity in our brain,” Shepard said.

Stamos revealed that Loughlin recently moved to his neighborhood and the two are close. He referenced a viral TikTok video that he uploaded in September of the pair revisiting a few moments from the ‘90s for the “Teenage Dirtbag” trend.

While some celebrated seeing Uncle Jesse and Aunt Becky reunite, others commented and said Loughlin’s return to the spotlight was “too soon.”

In 2020, Loughlin served a two-month prison sentence for her contribution to a national college admissions scam.

The 58-year-old actor and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, confessed to paying $500,000 to ensure their daughters, 23-year-old Olivia Jade and 24-year-old Isabella, were accepted into the University of Southern California. Loughlin’s daughters were falsely labeled as athletic recruits at the time.

After serving her time, Loughlin was released in December 2020. She was also required to pay an additional $150,000 and complete community service.

Her husband was incarcerated for about five months before his release in April 2021.

Since completing her sentence, Loughlin has appeared in a couple episodes of the spinoff series “When Hope Calls,” where she reprised her character Abigail Stanton from “When Calls the Heart.”

In September, the Great American Family network announced she will star in an upcoming movie called “Fall Into Winter.” The film will premiere in January 2023.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com