The defamation case brought by former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant against Sports Illustrated reporter Michael Rosenberg about a story written exposing Bryant’s role in the Brett Favre welfare scandal has been dismissed with prejudice by a federal judge.
Former Front Office Sports reporter A.J. Perez was first to report the news.
NEWS: The defamation lawsuit former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant filed against SI reporter Michael Rosenberg and the Arena Group was dismissed (with prejudice) by a federal judge. https://t.co/XPSWWMIQco
— A.J. Perez (@byajperez) March 25, 2025
Rosenberg’s article, published in 2023, revealed Favre and Bryant as ringleaders behind the welfare scheme that benefited the Hall of Fame quarterback. Between 2017 and 2019, Mississippi’s welfare agency director, John Davis, who was appointed by Bryant, misallocated tens of millions of dollars in welfare funds, some of which were used to build a volleyball stadium at Favre’s alma mater, Southern Mississippi, where his daughter was a member of the women’s volleyball team. Davis plead guilty to federal and state charges in 2022.
Both Bryant and Favre have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the case, despite Rosenberg revealing incriminating communications between the former governor and former NFL quarterback.
According to Rosenberg’s 2023 article, “Davis largely operated on behalf of Mississippi’s then-governor, Republican Phil Bryant. And Bryant worked relentlessly to please the state’s most famous athlete, NFL legend Brett Favre.”
Bryant’s defamation claims asserted that Rosenberg acted maliciously, ignoring what the former governor claimed as a “mountain of objective evidence” absolving him of any wrongdoing.
The federal court’s ruling filed Tuesday states, “Bryant fails to plausibly allege that [Sports Illustrated publisher] Arena or Rosenberg acted with actual malice, which is required to maintain his defamation claim…Thus, the Court dismisses the
Bryants claims against Arena and Rosenberg with prejudice.”
View the court’s full ruling here, courtesy of Perez.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.