Greg Norman on Jamal Khashoggi Murder: 'We've All Made Mistakes'

Australian golf legend Greg Norman this week, while discussing an invitational series financed by Saudi Arabia, said, "We've all made mistakes," when asked about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

"Everybody has owned up to it, right?" Norman asked, according to The Times U.K. "It has been spoken about, from what I've read, going on what you guys reported. Take ownership, no matter what it is."

Norman is the chief executive of the LIV Golf Invitational, a golf league that receives much of its funding from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

He added, "You just want to learn from those mistakes, and how you can correct them going forward."

Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist based in the U.S., was murdered in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018. The CIA determined in a report the order to kill Khashoggi came from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Norman, when asked later by Sky News about the murder of Khashoggi and the mass execution the Saudi government carried out earlier this year, said it is "reprehensible what happened with Khashoggi."

He said, "Own up to it, talk about it. But if you go back into Saudi Arabia, they're making a cultural change from within to change that. They don't want to have that stigma sitting over there."

Norman also said, "I do not answer to Saudi Arabia."

Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggi's former fiancée, criticized Norman for his comments in remarks to the Telegraph of London.

"It is so hurtful when Jamal's brutal killing is brushed off as a 'mistake' and that we should just move on," Cengiz said. "Would you say that if it was your loved one? How can we go forward when those who ordered the murder are still unpunished and continue to try to buy back their legitimacy?"

LIV Golf later released a statement addressing the controversy.

"The killing of Jamal Khashoggi was reprehensible," the organization said, according to ESPN. "Everyone agrees on that, including Greg, as he has said as such previously on many occasions. Greg also knows that golf is a force for good around the world and can help make inroads toward positive change. That is why he is so excited about LIV and that was the point he was making."

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