Press Statement
Warning the Washington Post of Potential Legal Action for Defamation
delivered 24
March 2024, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text
version below transcribed directly from audio]
I wanted to publicly address what exactly
this
reporter for the
The Washington Post has been doing the past several years and
the lengths he has gone to try to put a hit piece together.
This reporter has
been working on a story about me for two years.
After two years of trying to get me to sit with him for an interview, he
contacts
LSU on Tuesday, as we were getting ready for the
First Round game of
this tournament, with more than a dozen questions, demanding a response by
Thursday, right before we're scheduled to tip off.
Are you kidding me?
This was a ridiculous deadline that LSU and I could not possibly meet, and the
reporter knew it. It was just an attempt to prevent me from commenting and an
attempt to distract us from
this tournament.
It ain't going to work, buddy.
Unfortunately, this is part of a pattern that goes back years. I told this
reporter two years ago that I didn't appreciate the hit job
he wrote on [LSU Head Football Coach]
Brian Kelly, and that's why I wasn't going to do an interview
with him.
After that, the reporter called two former college coaches of mine and left
multiple messages that he was "with me" in Baton Rouge to get them to call him
back -- trying to trick these coaches into believing that I was working with The
Washington Post on a story. When my former coaches spoke to him and found out
that I wasn't talking with the reporter, they were just distraught, and they
felt completely misled.
Former players have told me that The Washington Post has contacted them and
offered to let them be anonymous in a story if they'll say negative things about
me. The Washington Post has called former disgruntled players to get negative
quotes to include in their story. They're ignoring the 40-plus years of positive
stories that -- that people -- or they have heard from people about me.
But you see, reporters who give a megaphone to a one-sided, embellished version
of things aren't trying to tell the truth. They're trying to sell newspapers and
feed the
click machine. This is exactly why people don't trust journalists and
the media anymore. It's these kinds of sleazy tactics and hatchet jobs that
people are just tired of.
I'm fed up, and I'm not going to let The Washington Post attack this university,
this awesome team of young women I have, or me without a fight. I've hired the
best defamation law firm in the country, and I will sue The Washington Post if
they publish a false story about me.
Not many people are in a position to hold these kind [sic] of journalists
accountable. But I am.
And I'll do it.
That's all I'm going to say about this
right now. And now I'm going to get back to talking about my basketball team and
winning this game tomorrow.
