Roger Clemens' involvement with performance-enhancing drugs took another turn on Friday, one that doesn't help the seven-time Cy Young winner. Former trainer Brian McNamee filed a defamation lawsuit against Clemens claiming that Clemens damaged his reputation through lies.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Brooklyn, alleges Clemens launched an
"intense and coordinated public relations offensive" against McNamee after the trainer admitted to injecting Clemens with steroids in human growth hormone from 1998 to 2001.
Clemens has denied using performance-enhancing drugs despite the overwhelming evidence presented by McNamee.
"Rather than acknowledging the truth of McNamee's allegations, Clemens
waged a defamatory public relations campaign against McNamee," the suit
says. "Clemens' campaign … was intended to deceive the public and
Congress into falsely believing that McNamee is a liar."
The suit quotes Clemens in a YouTube video from 2007 and interview with ESPN in May, in which he denies ever using any banned substance.
Clemens is under investigation by a federal grand jury in Washington
D.C., which is trying to determine whether he lied to a congressional committee about his steroid use in 2008. He also has his own pending
defamation claim against McNamee in Houston.
