and added Golf Channel analysts Damon Hack and Shane Bacon, Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch, the New Yorker’s Zach Helfand, Condé Nast and Gannett Co.Reed then filed another lawsuit against more members of the media, including the Associated Press and Fox Sports, seeking $250 million due to coverage of controversial moments during Reed’s career that he alleged attacked his character.
“While Reed may be frustrated at the negative media coverage he receives ,” U.S. District Court Judge Timothy J. Corrigan wrote in a 78-page ruling, “under Florida law and the First Amendment, Reed fails to bring actionable defamation claims and his cases therefore must be dismissed.” Corrigan wrote that many of the statements were not about Reed but in fact about LIV Golf, while others were matters of opinion, “permissible rhetorical hyperbole” or statements of fact that cannot be challenged.
Corrigan found only one statement listed to be “potentially actionable,” in a story by Gavin Newsham published by Fox Sports and the New York Post. But Corrigan determined that all in all, Reed failed to prove that the media platforms or the publisher acted in a way that met the legal definition of malice.Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. Try a week on us.covers golf and the LSU Tigers for The Athletic.