For a brief moment, there was LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil, admitting live on camera that the league would no longer receive funding support from the Saudi Public Investment Fund after the 2026 season. In doing so, O’Neil had broken ranks and confirmed the various reports that had said as much in the days prior.
But in a flash, it was gone, presumably in the hope that it would be forgotten.
That, of course, is not how the internet works.
On Thursday, when LIV’s broadcast from Mexico City was actually working, its broadcasters offered stiff rebuttals to reports of its impending demise, clarifying that the league was a paragon of financial stability. O’Neil even joined the broadcast at one point to echo those sentiments.
However, when O’Neil spoke with TNT Sports UK reporter Oliver Wilson, who asked the CEO about Sergio Garcia’s comments that funding would be in place through 2030, the LIV chief came clean.
Here is a clip from the deleted video TNT posted
“The reality is you’re funded through the season and then you work like crazy as a business to create a business and a business plan to keep us going.” pic.twitter.com/TefE2cKXqj https://t.co/Cc781nYaeV
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) April 17, 2026
“Yeah, of course, that is not the way the world works, and we have commitments to this being a going concern. The reality is you’re funded through the season, and then you work like crazy to create a business and a business plan to keep us going,” said O’Neil. “But that’s not different than any other private equity business in the history of mankind.”
That clip was uploaded to X and quickly went viral. However, soon after it was posted, the video was deleted. Over three hours later, per The Telegraph, it was reposted on the TNT Sports account, but with O’Neil’s admission omitted.
Here’s the re-edited version.
We spoke with LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil on the future of the league 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/7S5HQQmj9A
— TNT Sports (@tntsports) April 17, 2026
It’s not surprising that LIV would want that admission to disappear. But as to why a broadcaster would self-delete and edit an interview clip to remove the most newsworthy and pertinent aspect of the interview, that raises many larger questions about journalistic impartiality, influence, and control.
Suffice it to say, whatever they were hoping to achieve by deleting and reposting the clip, they drew far more attention to the interview and the fallout.
What chess move number is it when you:
-Admit you’re only funded through ‘26
-Everyone sees it
-Delete it
-Repost the interview with that part cut out and just hope nobody notices? https://t.co/0jqpiEsuIM— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) April 17, 2026
“Edit out the part where i said funding was running out at the end of the year and repost it like nothing happened”. https://t.co/k4x1XLAW3h
— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) April 17, 2026
LIV has edited out Scott O’Neil’s remarks about funding https://t.co/u4U80ezHyE
— Joel Beall (@JoelMBeall) April 17, 2026
Weird?
They left out this part. https://t.co/CNzv17GViF pic.twitter.com/xKFXaFOXrz— trey wingo (@wingoz) April 17, 2026
Was TNT Sports UK directed by LIV to scrub the admission? Or did they do it of their own accord to be a “good soldier” for LIV? And which answer would be worse?
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.