Bryson DeChambeau recently joined Tucker Carlson on Fox News and he attempted to win LIV Golf supporters by bizarrely comparing the controversial Saudi-backed league to pizza.
During the interview, which was recorded at Donald Trump’s Bedminster course over the weekend, DeChambeau expressed optimism that the PGA Tour and LIV Golf will eventually have a more symbiotic relationship. Currently, the PGA Tour has suspended the golfers who joined LIV.
As DeChambeau discussed the current rift, he made it clear that he doesn’t understand the outrage over LIV Golf and he definitely doesn’t understand how pizza restaurants operate.
“It’s so weird, because it’s like — let’s use this as a reference,” DeChambeau said as he offered a reference that no one saw coming. “I heard this earlier this week. You have a pizza shop that’s been in existence for 50 years. And all the customers go to it and it’s a great product. All of a sudden, a new pizza shop opens up, right? And they start paying the customers to come eat at their place, and that pizza is potentially a little bit better of a pizza, right? And then, all of a sudden, that original pizza house goes, if you go over there, we’re banning you from ever coming back to our pizza shop. What’s wrong with that economic model?”
Carlson, who’s no stranger to making asinine claims and analogies on his Fox News show, didn’t bat an eye at DeChambeau’s comparison.
First, it’s odd that DeChambeau is referring to himself and other golfers as “customers” rather than the product. Shouldn’t he be selling himself as the pizza?
Second, the 28-year-old DeChambeau is completely disregarding the concerns surrounding LIV Golf. There is no outrage about golfers choosing to take more money than the PGA Tour is offering, the outrage is over where the money is coming from.
DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and others are taking a paycheck from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is financing LIV Golf. And regardless of their intentions, those golfers are being paid to serve as ambassadors for the Saudi royal family, which heads a government known for committing brutal human rights violations.
Getting paid to eat pizza sounds like a great gig. Getting paid to play golf sounds like a great gig, but sports-washing Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses is where people take issue with those who are making the choice to support LIV Golf.
[Fox News]