Howard Stern blasts Phil Mickelson for playing for 'piece of s**t' Saudis in LIV golf series

The controversial LIV golf series continues to attract criticism, and now Howard Stern has put Phil Mickelson on blast over his involvement.

Mickelson is one of the biggest names taking part in the breakaway series backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, with clear links to the regime in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Arabian government's record on human rights has long been questioned and criticised by groups such as Amnesty International – and the players who have signed up for the series have been grilled on their involvement ever since moving over.

Along with Dustin Johnson, Mickelson is the biggest name to have committed to playing on in the LIV after reportedly being paid $200million to join – and Stern isn’t at all happy about it.

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Stern spoke about Mickelson, other golfers involved and the Saudi regime on his SiriusXM show [via Mediaite], saying: “They’re selling out.”

“They’re real pieces of sh** and they got a lot of money so it allows them to be pieces of sh** on a big level,” Stern said. “Normally, if they didn’t have oil there, you wouldn’t hear from these guys, you’d never know what they believe, they’d be talking to a sheep and a camel.”

Stern isn't happy about Mickelson's actionsGetty

“But they, unfortunately, have so much money that they can spread their diseased brain power all over the world and now they wanna start a golf tournament, not a tournament, a league.”

Mickelson is one of the golfers who has been suspended from the PGA Tour after joining the LIV.

It comes after players were hit with difficult questions over their involvement earlier this month before the first event at the Centurion Club in St Albans.

Touching on some of the most troubling aspects of life under the Saudi government, Graeme McDowell was asked at the first press conference for the event, “how is that journey helping women who are oppressed in Saudi Arabia, the migrant groups whose rights are violated, the LGBTQ individuals who are criminalised, the families of the 81 men who were executed by the kingdom in March, and those being bombed in Yemen?”

“I wish I had the ability to be able to have that conversation with you,” McDowell replied.