Mohammed bin Salman unfazed by sportswashing claims

Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, said in an interview with Fox News that aired Wednesday that he doesn’t care about allegations of sportswashing made against his country.

“If sportswashing [is] going to increase my GDP [gross domestic product] by way of 1 percent, then I will continue doing sportwashing,” he said, according to Foxnews.com. “I don’t care.”

Through its Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia has been increasingly aggressive in its involvement in global sports in recent years, highlighted in the United States by the creation of LIV Golf, which recruited high-profile players from the PGA Tour, eventually leading to a union between the two.

Critics have argued these types of investments are done to launder Saudi Arabia’s image to the rest of the world. However, bin Salman contends that is not…