Boosters might welcome Saudi participation — and oil money — in global sporting events. But critics call it “sportswashing” — an effort to use splashy sporting events to distract from human rights violations.
Source: Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf League Is ‘Sportswashing’ At Its Worst | The Smirking Chimp
The CEO of Amnesty International UK, Sacha Desmukh, described the deal as “an extremely bitter blow for human rights.” Great football clubs, she claimed, were “being used to sportswash human rights abuse.” Saudi Arabia had undertaken this move as part of an “aggressive move into sport as a vehicle for image-management and PR plain for all to see.”
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