Reggie Bush Ordered To Pay $1.4M In Defamation Case

Former USC Trojans legend Reggie Bush must pay $1.4 million as the result of a defamation case brought against the former running back by Lloyd Lake, a San Diego businessman who had ties to the USC football program in the mid-2000s when Bush won the Heisman Trophy and starred at the program.

According to Sports Illustrated, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Eric Harmon supported an earlier decision by Jeffery G. Benz, who ruled in arbitration proceedings that Bush owed Lake $500,000 in damages and over $800,000 in attorney’s fees and legal costs, which Bush’s attorneys appealed, arguing that Benz didn’t have the authority to make such a determination.

The ruling, according to The Los Angeles Times, stems from comments Bush made in 2022 on the “I Am An Athlete” podcast as well as social media comments that painted Lake as a deplorable person. These comments allegedly led to the home of Lake’s parents, Roy and Barbara Gunner, being vandalized with graffiti messages, one of which read “Help Reggie Bush Get His Trophy Back F— Crook,” and another which read “187,” the California penal code for murder made famous by California rappers Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre through the songs “Deep Cover” and “One Eight Seven.”

Per their reporting, Bush’s comments, which accused Lake of blackmail and characterized his criminal record as being “as long as the Cheesecake Factory menu,” were supplemented months later by a tweet that falsely accused Lake of being a convicted rapist.

All of these comments violated a previous non-disparagement agreement that Bush and his parents as well as Lake and his parents signed in 2010 as part of the settlement of a contentious improper benefits lawsuit that led to the Trojans vacating their 2004 National Championship and the forfeiture of Bush’s Heisman Trophy.

According to that agreement, all parties agreed “not make any statements or representations to any person that may cast another Party to this Agreement in an unfavorable light, that are offensive to or disparage them, or that could adversely affect their name and reputation,” which Bush and Lake had abided by for 15 years, until the NIL revolution in college sports occurred and Bush’s then-improper benefits scandal became a common practice, and Bush made his ill-fated statements in his zeal to tell his side of the story.

Bush’s legal team, though they suffered an expensive legal defeat, did succeed in their petition to have the judge seal away the majority of their case, which they might see as a small victory in one of the most infamous college football scandals of the last 25 years.

In any case, the result also serves as a vivid reminder to only speak or type what is known to be the truth on the internet, especially if a condition of a settlement requires a party to be circumspect about the language used towards another person.

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