Patrick Reed is not messing around.
Reed has filed a defamation lawsuit against Golf Channel and Brandel Chamblee, who is an analyst for the channel. The suit was filed by Reed’s attorney Larry Klayman Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas Houston Division. Reed is seeking $750 million in damages.
In the suit, Reed accuses Chamblee and Golf Channel of disparaging the golfer throughout his career. Reed accuses Chamblee and Golf Channel of purposefully making him look bad because he chose to sign with LIV Golf.
From the lawsuit:
“Defendants Chamblee and NBC’s Golf Channel have conspired as joint tortfeasors for and with the PGA Tour, it’s (sic) executives and it’s (sic) Commissioner Jay Monahan, to engage in a pattern and practice of defaming Mr. Reed, misreporting information with falsity and/or reckless disregard of the truth, that is with actual and constitutional malice, purposely omitting pertinent key material facts to mislead the public, and actively targeting Mr. Reed since he was 23 years old, to destroy his reputation, create hate, and a hostile work environment for him, and with the intention to discredit his name and accomplishments as a young, elite, world-class golfer, and the good and caring person, husband and father of two children, he is. It is well-known on tour that Mr. Reed has been abused and endured more than any other golfer from fans or spectators who have been allowed to scream obscenities only to be glorified by NBC’s Golf Channel for doing so, because it gets Defendants Chamblee and Golf Channel ‘clicks’, viewership, ratings and increased revenue,” the suit reads.
The lawsuit accuses Chamblee and Golf Channel of working together with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour to disparage LIV Golf.
Here is more:
“Defendant Chamblee, a former professional golfer, who fell far short of ever rising to the accomplished level of Mr. Reed, and the current analyst for Golf Channel, has become Golf Channel’s primary mouthpiece and agent to push this defamatory agenda and inflict severe damage to Mr. Reed, LIV, and other golfers signed with LIV.
[…]
“Defendants Chamblee and Golf Channel are acting in concert with and as agents on behalf of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, which views LIV as its primary competitor.”
Most of the defamation case centers around comments Chamblee has made about golfers leaving for LIV. Chamblee has accused these golfers of taking money from a tyrannical dictator, accepting “blood money,” and of taking part in sports-washing.
You can read the entire lawsuit here.
Reed, 32, has 9 career PGA Tour wins, including his win at the Masters in 2018. He was one of the big-name golfers to join LIV fairly early in the new league’s process.
