The news of golf legend Phil Mickelson being dropped by longtime sponsor KPMG on Tuesday was widely met with approval in western media.
The six-time grand slam winner ran afoul of the curiously selective concerns of journalists when he appeared to wave off the Saudi Arabian government's well-documented human rights abuses to justify his negotiations with a proposed breakaway Saudi-funded golf league that could threaten the preeminence of the PGA Tour.
Journalists and fans largely relished KPMG seemingly taking a stand in defense of human rights -- or at the very least its seeming decision that its business relationship with Mickelson, who has long worn caps emblazoned with the KPMG logo, was no longer tenable.
But what most journalists either missed or, potentially more alarmingly simply opted not to report, was KPMG's own long-standing and ongoing business relationship with the Saudi government.
The global financial firm, based in the Netherlands, is a contractor of the Saudi monarchy, with offices in Riyadh and Jeddah, and replete with a public-facing Twitter page and website. The relationship began in 1992, with the firm offering audit, tax, and other advisory services, and according to journalist Adam H. Johnson, KPMG also provides security for the state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco.
On Tuesday, KPMG said its 14-year sponsorship with Mickelson was over, though its statement didn't say why. While we'd all like to think it was a matter of ethics, the fact is a contract with the Saudi government is worth a lot more than an endorsement from Mickelson.
The move came soon after Mickelson published a lengthy, vague apology in which he claimed his comments were both made off the record and taken out of context by the author of his upcoming biography.
It was unclear exactly to whom Mickelson's apology was addressed, with only the Saudi-backed LIV Investments being cited by name.
If anything, Mickelson's muddled apology could be read as a mea culpa to the Saudi government -- apparently for spotlighting its abuses and for referring to members of the monarchy as "crazy motherf----rs."
Alan Shipnuck, the author of the Mickelson biography, took to social media to slam Lefty for his seeming refusal to accept blame for his incendiary remarks.
The omission in news reports of KPMG's relationship with Saudi Arabia would seem like a glaring error, though it appears to be in keeping with initial coverage of Mickelson's remarks.
Those articles failed to connect the US government's relationship with the Saudi monarchy, including its continued support for the ongoing Saudi-led seven-year war on Yemen, which by most accounts has killed up to 400,000 people.
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