May 15 2009
Roger Clemens Hired PR Firm to Handle Steroid Use Allegations
Roger Clemens has stayed mum for more than a year on allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs. Right now, the seven-time Cy Young Award winner is now attempting a different strategy. Clemens has hired a firm that aims to guide high-profile figures through public relations crises. And on Tuesday, he finally broke his silence through a radio appearance. He denied that Brian McNamee, his former personal trainer, injected him with performance-enhancing drugs. This is done in a phone interview on ESPN’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning.” “He’s never injected me with HGH or steroids.” This is said in defense of the report submitted by baseball investigator George Mitchell.
Around three weeks ago, the baseball star met with representatives from Washington-based Levick Strategic Communications. Gene Grabowski, Levick senior vice president said that Clemens was referred by his agents and lawyers. In an interview with the Associated Press, Grabowski said that “because of the litigation, he felt obligated on advice of counsel not to speak.” “What he learned in that year was that by not speaking no one was going to tell his story,” Grabowski added.
Clemens decided to speak out last Tuesday because it is also the scheduled release date of the book that talks about his alleged drug use. Clemens has already appeared last January 2008 on CBS’ “60 Minutes” then on the following day, he held a news conference. Through all these, Clemens has stayed quiet since testifying before Congress the next month.
The revelations on the ”American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime” book is no longer new to the public. The book was authored by four New York Daily News reporters, summarizes previous reports in the newspaper. The book has been available to reviewers and had excerpts published before the release date.
The federal grand jury in Washington is already investigating the Clemens case and it is trying to know whether he lied when he told the congressional committee that he had not used illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens also filed a defamation case against McNamee. While not mentioning his former trainer’s name, he said that “you’ve got somebody that’s out there that is really just crawling up your back to make a buck.” Meanwhile, McNamee’s lead lawyer, Richard Emery, defended his client by saying that this “is going to backfire, because he’s publicly now poking a stick in Congress’ eye.” He also added in the AP phone interview that “nobody, for a minute, thinks he’s not a liar just because he’s talking.”
Clemens also mentioned that he had given a DNA sample to federal investigators but that syringes provided by McNamee would not link him to performance-enhancing drug use. The radio appearance of Clemens last Tuesday returns him to the spotlight as other star athletes have already replaced him in the baseball steroid scandal. Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez are included in the growing list of athletes using steroids. Ramirez is now suspended for violating MLB’s drug policy.
Clemens put an end to these steroid use allegations by saying that it would have been “suicidal” for him to use steroids because of a history of heart problems run in the family.
[...] Roger Clemens wants to address his steroid issue but he can’t seem to find time. He offered to field questions from the viewers of Houstonist two weeks ago, after the release of the “American Icon, the Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America,” but the website’s editor and the former Yankee still have not hashed out the logistics of the Q&A session. Jason Bargas, the editor, said that when he talked to Clemens this week about something, the Rocket told him that he was really busy but still committed to the Q&A round. The steroid-tainted star also suggested the editor to send him questions which he would answer during minutes of downtime in his schedule. Clemens has just returned from a Scotland vacation and told Bargas that he will now be working with minor league players in the next weeks. [...]