Senator Rants About ‘Rap Stars Instead Of Basketball Stars’ During LIV-PGA Tour Merger Hearing

Getty Image / Kevin Dietsch

The US Senate held a hearing on Tuesday to learn more about and discuss the potential LIV Golf merger with the PGA Tour which would bring the Saudi-backed Public Investment Fund (PIF) into American sports.

During the hearing, Kentucky senator Rand Paul took the opportunity to grandstand about Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) in college sports instead of focusing on the LIV Golf x PGA Tour merger at hand.

A clip of Rand Paul has gone viral. In it, he says “Now everybody that plays basketball in college is gonna be driving a Bentley or a Rolls. I mean, we’re gonna be seeing rap stars instead of basketball stars.” Again, this was during a hearing about the LIV-PGA Tour merger.

The clip quickly went viral. We live in an era where the overwhelming majority of the population supports NIL and athletes’ ability to be fairly compensated for their contributions. It also wasn’t lost on people that Rand Paul used his moment to talk about NIL instead of Saudi funds backing the PGA Tour.

On Twitter, they wrote “Sir, this is a Wendy’s…” and “I can’t believe how hard they advocate for us to not have anything.” Someone replied “What does them being paid have to do with being proud of them? The talent is still there, the competition is still there. God forbid they not have to be starving athletes bringing in money to the schools they’re playing for.”

A recent report revealed that the NIL market could yield up to $1.7 billion. On what planet is that *NOT* good for everyone involved?

For more from the Senate hearing on the PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger, here is a short clip from C-SPAN:

Prior to the hearing, a treasure trove of revealing documents was released.