Tiger Fires Back!

[Aotearoa_Brad]

So word has it that Tiger Woods was the subject of a fake, "satirical" interview in the Dec issue of GolfDigest. Apparently the article depicted Woods in a pretty poor light.

 

Woods' Management Company responded in a letter to GolfDigest, and were clearly miffed at the author:

 

Jenkins puts words in our client's mouth saying variously, that he has contempt for tipping, enjoys firing employees, is unable to make business decisions, isn't smart, disregards his friends, and is personally dishonest.  But these things aren't jokes, they are character slanders and ones for which Jenkins has no basis whatsoever.  If there is some tangible way that Jenkins believes any of these things, then he ought to have the integrity to state it outright.

 

I haven't seen the original 'satirical' piece in GolfDigest - maybe some of you have? - but it does seem a bit off to just make up something like an interview - even if it is supposed to be a 'satirical' piece.

 

Tiger Woods responded himself, as a guest contributor in The Players Tribune (a site founded by Derek Jeter) in a section that specifically has been set up to provide athletes an opportunity to "offer their side on something that has been written or said about them".

 

Tiger opens with:

 

"Did you read Dan Jenkins' interview with me in the latest Golf Digest? I hope not. Because it wasn't me. It was some jerk he created to pretend he was talking to me. That's right, Jenkins faked an interview, which fails as parody, and is really more like a grudge-fueled piece of character assassination." (Tiger Woods)

 

You can read Tigers full response, and his Management's letter to GolfDigest here: http://www.theplayerstribune.com/tiger-woods-straight-up-not-true-not-funny/

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

I did read the original piece - thought it was pretty funny and knew that it wasn't Tiger (Jenkins said at the beginning he made it up). Some places parody is accepted - remember the Tiger skits on SNL when the scandal broke?  But apparently Golf Digest isn't the place for it - at least as far as Tiger's camp is concerned.  

 

But still, it was pretty funny...

[furu]

Only readers who are amazingly stupid - we're talking missing a piece of their brain - would think it really was Tiger in the interview.

 

They're dealing with some fun rumours about one of modern times greatest athletes. But he doesn't want to sink to the level where other normal people live. He should just make fun of GD. Call Fallon to be on the show and show the public that you don't care.

[mbrodeur86]

Tiger's never had the best relationship with the media....and now's it's worse lol

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Interesting read in The Player's Tribune.  Here's the letter Tiger's reps sent to DG:

 

November 12, 2014

Dear Mr. Townsend,  

As the agency for Tiger Woods, we have a very serious inquiry about a piece that appears in the December issue of Golf Digest.

The story completely fabricates an interview between writer Dan Jenkins and Mr. Woods.  What we would like to know is how this was approved by editors and whether you, as the publisher, will stand behind this as in any way journalistically responsible? What standards and tenets were used for the story and accompanying artwork? It is not enough to claim that Mr. Jenkins is an “opinion writer” or that this is mere “parody” when under that guise Mr. Jenkins makes a litany of disparagements that are either baseless or demonstrably untrue.  Mr. Jenkins has long held a personal hostility for Mr. Woods, a fact that is common knowledge in golf journalism.  Knowing that, editors ought to be holding him to a firmer standard of responsible reporting, grounded in fact.  Instead, they have allowed him to realize his vendetta, concocting situations that arise out of his own grudges and frustrations.   There's a word for writers that stoop to this underhanded technique: Fabulist.  

 We would also like you to account for the following:  

•         Jenkins implies in the piece he was declined for an interview with Tiger.  But no such request was made, at least not recently. Shouldn't he have done that before making up an interview?

•         Digest staged an impersonating actor for photographs next to a Cadillac SUV, apparently to mislead readers. Is that sort of deception acceptable in Conde Nast publications?  

•         Jenkins puts words in our client's mouth saying variously, that he has contempt for tipping, enjoys firing employees, is unable to make business decisions, isn't smart, disregards his friends, and is personally dishonest.  But these things aren't jokes, they are character slanders and ones for which Jenkins has no basis whatsoever.  If there is some tangible way that Jenkins believes any of these things, then he ought to have the integrity to state it outright. 

•         Would this story have even been considered if Tiger was still associated with Golf Digest?

•         Has any other person in golf been subjected to this treatment in your magazines? We can't recall any piece remotely like this. We certainly can't imagine any of the golfers that are frequent contributors to the magazine being attacked like this.  

We are requesting a formal response to these questions on how journalistically or ethically this piece is acceptable, and we are also asking for a written apology.  We hope you'll agree that what credibility the magazine still has requires it.  




Mark Steinberg, Partner Excel Sports Management

Glenn Greenspan Vice President, Communications ETW Corporation

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

And let's compare the Jenkins article to THIS, which aired on CNN back in December of 2009...

 

[furu]

Holy c****! Those guys are dumb and dumber in real life! 

 

Mislead readers? Seriously?

 

Digest staged an impersonating actor for photographs next to a Cadillac SUV, apparently to mislead readers.

[fozcycle]

I have always liked Dan Jenkins ability to make me laugh with his prose(North Dallas 40).......BUT, in this case I believe that he went over the line.  Jenkins' witty sarcasm really has no reason to be.  Tiger is trying to get back into the ring and this kind of playing with our golf pros does not help anyone.  We need to be respectful of our pros.....just my opinion.

[westy]

If tiger was a Brit then he'd know what satire and parody are, the US media treat him pretty lightly.

 

I expect many of you know of David Beckham, possibly our most idolised footballer in England (yes yes it's soccer, but not really as we play it with our feet) has been lampooned for being dumb for his whole career and man he took sh@t over stuff in his private life.

 

But he never really rose to the bait and played along with it - now he's a national treasure, seriously we'd forgive him pretty much anything.

 

In short if tiger and his 'PR' (in inverted commas because they don't seem to help him much) company kept their heads down a bit more and played along - think he was trying with some of the badly dressed stuff lately - then it might help him.