Howard Stern slammed Phil Mickelson and other golfers for ‘selling out’ to Saudi Arabia’s new league LIV and claims the country’s leaders are ‘pieces of s**t.’
Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and Kevin Na have all joined the new Saudi golf league and are reportedly making ‘millions’ off it.
Stern, 68, couldn’t shake off the accusations of reported human rights violations by Saudi Arabia – including the alleged execution of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 36. Salman has denied any involvement in the journalist’s death.
Stern claims the ‘piece of s**t’ Saudis think ‘if they have this golf league, everything will be fixed.’
However, the radio show host was largely outraged by the golfers’ ability to turn a blind eye to the alleged abuses.
‘The Saudis are offering such ridiculous amounts of money for this new golf league that Phil Michelson, who I don’t know from a hole in the wall…well they offered him $200million to play in the league…This is crazy,’ The America’s Got Talent judge said on Monday.
Other players, such as Johnson, was reportedly offered $125million and golf legend Tiger Woods reportedly turned down a near ‘billion-dollar’ contract.
Howard Stern, 68, slammed Phil Mickelson and other defectors for ‘selling out’ to Saudi Arabia’s new golf league LIV and claims the country’s leaders are ‘pieces of s**t’
Mickelson, 51, reportedly went to the league for $200million, despite previously saying Saudis were ‘scary motherf**kers to be involved with’ and had a ‘horrible human rights record’ after killing Khashoggi. He said at a recent press conference that he didn’t ‘condone’ human rights abuses, but thought the ‘game of golf’ could change things
‘At the LIV tournament this weekend, the top 12 finishers made at least $560,000, with the winner taking home $4million,’ Stern said on Monday’s show. ‘So, they’re throwing all kinds of crazy figures at these guys.
‘And [the golfers] are selling out. I don’t know, man, I don’t know.’
Stern also brought up a quote where Mickelson previously said that the Saudis were ‘scary motherf**kers to be involved with’ and had a ‘horrible human rights record’ after killing Khashoggi.
Stern joked: ‘Phil turned around and said: “For $200million, f**k it. I’m getting into bed with these guys.”‘
When Mickelson was asked at s press conference ‘why he was here,’ the golfer replied that he didn’t ‘condone’ human rights violations and cited ‘the good the game of golf has done’ as his reason for being there.
‘”But I’ll put up with [human rights violations] for $200million,” Stern jokingly impersonated the athlete. ‘”No one in this room condones this type of thing,” well you do, dude,’ Stern hit back.
Saudi Arabia has been accused of many human rights violations, including the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi (pictured)
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly ordered the killing, but he has denied any involvement. Stern claimed the Saudi-backed league was created so ‘everything will be fixed’ and the country can repair its image. He also claimed leaders, like Salman, were ‘pieces of s**t’ with a lot of money to throw around
Mickelson also said ‘LIV golf is going to do a lot for the game as well,’ and repeatedly said he did not ‘condone’ abuse. However, Mickelson did not say how the alleged violations factored into his decision to join the league.
Mickelson and 16 other golfers have been ‘suspended’ indefinitely by the PGA for playing in the LIV events. The players reportedly ‘did not receive the necessary conflicting event and media rights release – or did not apply for releases at all,’ an internal PGA memo said, according to CNBC.
‘These players have made their choice for their own financial-based reasons. They can’t demand the same PGA TOUR membership benefits, considerations, opportunities and platform as [members],’ the memo read.
A 9/11 support group also recently sent the American defectors a scathing letter saying that the golfers ‘betrayed’ victims of 9/11 by joining the league.
The furious message was sent directly to representatives of Mickelson, Johnson, DeChambeau, Reed and Na, with the claim that they have become ‘complicit’ in the ‘whitewashing’ of Saudi Arabia’s reputation by cashing in with the controversial LIV Invitational Series.
In citing Saudi Arabia’s prominent role in the terror attack, Terry Strada, the chair of 9/11 Families United, wrote: ‘Whether it was the appeal of millions of dollars of hard cash, or just the opportunity to prosecute your professional grievances with the PGA, you have sold us out.
‘This is a betrayal not only of us, but of all your countrymen.’
Strada, whose husband died in the attack, added: ‘Our community wishes to express our outrage at your partnership with LIV Golf and remind you of the responsibility that your new business partner, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, shoulders for providing the financial support and logistical support that enabled the terrorists to attack our nation and kill our loved ones.
‘As you may know, Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers were Saudis. It is the Kingdom that has spent 20 years in denial: lying about their activities, and cowardly dodging the responsibility they bear.
‘Yet these are your partners, and much to our disappointment, you appear pleased to be in business with them,’ the letter read. ‘Please, do not insult our loved one’s memories and take the pathetic position, as one of your foreign colleagues did last week, claiming you are ‘just golfers playing a game’ or blandly treating the evils of the Saudi regime as ‘human rights’ concerns.
Dustin Johnson (left) has also defected to the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Series for a reported $125million. Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters Champion, (right) is the latest high-profile player to join the tour
‘You are all Americans, keenly aware of the death and destruction of September 11.’
Stern also condemned Saudi’s leaders as ‘pieces of s**t’ who have a ‘lot of money.’
‘It allows them to be pieces of s**t on a big level. Normally, if they didn’t have oil there, you wouldn’t hear from these guys, you’d never know what they believe, they’d be talking to a sheep and a camel.
‘But they, unfortunately, have so much money that they can spread their diseased brain power all over the world and now they wanna start a golf tournament, not a tournament, a league,’ Stern said.
The native New Yorker said the country’s image won’t change until ‘they have free elections’ and start treating people with respect, slamming the Middle Eastern country for it’s other regressive customs, such as making women wear ‘robes and covering the face and all that other horses**t.’
Co-host Robin Quivers, 69, jokingly brought up that women could ‘drive now, a little bit.’
‘There you go,’ Stern said unenthusiastically. ‘Way to go.’
He also slammed Islam as being a religion that ‘hates everybody.’
‘They hate gay people, Jews, you name it, they got a laundry list of people who are pieces of s**t – you know, all based on religion.’
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