BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU coach Brian Kelly on Wednesday rebutted claims made on national television that he showed minimal interest in Greg Brooks Jr.'s well-being after the defensive back's football career was cut short by emergency surgery to remove a brain tumor.
“You can question me as a football coach. You can question me in terms of the things that we do on the field. But off the field, as a parent, as a husband, as somebody that is actively involved in every community that I’ve been involved with, this is where the line is drawn with me," Kelly said during a news conference in which he was scheduled to discuss transfer players.
“That comment struck a nerve with me,” Kelly continued. “It hit my heart.”
Kelly was responding to a comment made by Brooks' father on ABC's “Good Morning America” on Monday.
“My son almost lost his life, coach,” Greg Brooks Sr. said, claiming his family had not heard from Kelly since October 2023. “Where were you? Forget about football. Pick up the phone and say you love the kid, man.”
Brooks is suing LSU, alleging that the university was slow to have his symptoms checked out and then allowed an unqualified physician to perform brain surgery in September 2023, shortly after he was diagnosed medulloblastoma.
Brooks suffered multiple strokes during the operation, according to the lawsuit, has had to learn how to eat and write again, still has difficulty speaking and still cannot walk.
Brooks first exhibited symptoms during a preseason practice, the lawsuit said, including nausea, dizziness and headaches. The lawsuit also alleges that LSU coaches pressured Brooks to play in LSU's first two games that season, telling him he could lose his starting spot if he sat out.
More than a month after he first experienced symptoms, LSU sent Brooks to a neurologist who discovered the tumor, the lawsuit said.
“It is factually incorrect to state that I was not there by Greg’s side through this ordeal," Kelly said. "I was there on multiple occasions. We had somebody from my staff that was there virtually every single day.
“We love Greg," Kelly continued. “We love him for the person that he is, for the competitor that he is and the battler that he is and can only wish him continued progress as he goes through an incredibly difficult time. But it was important for me to set the record clear as to my care or my love for Greg.”
AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
FILE - LSU head coach Brian Kelly watches warm ups before an NCAA college football game against Oklahoma in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - LSU safety Greg Brooks Jr. (3) during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Alabama in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Tyler Kaufman, File)
BERLIN (AP) — The eight European countries targeted by U.S. President Donald Trump for a 10% tariff for opposing American control of Greenland blasted the move Sunday, warning that the American leader's threats “undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
In an unusual and very strong joint statement coming from major U.S. allies, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland on Sunday said troops sent to Greenland for the Danish military training exercise “Arctic Endurance” pose “no threat to anyone.”
Trump's Saturday announcement sets up a potentially dangerous test of U.S. partnerships in Europe. The Republican president appeared to indicate that he was using the tariffs as leverage to force talks over the status of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark that he regards as critical to U.S. national security.
“We stand in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland," the group said. “Building on the process begun last week, we stand ready to engage in a dialogue based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity that we stand firmly behind. Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
There are immediate questions about how the White House could try to implement the tariffs because the EU is a single economic zone in terms of trading. It was unclear, too, how Trump could act under U.S. law, though he could cite emergency economic powers that are currently subject to a U.S. Supreme Court challenge.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said China and Russia will benefit from the divisions between the U.S. and Europe. She added in a post on social media: “If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO. Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity."
Trump's move was also panned domestically.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, a former U.S. Navy pilot and Democrat who represents Arizona, posted that Trump’s threatened tariffs on U.S. allies would make Americans “pay more to try to get territory we don’t need.”
“Troops from European countries are arriving in Greenland to defend the territory from us. Let that sink in,” he wrote on social media. “The damage this President is doing to our reputation and our relationships is growing, making us less safe. If something doesn’t change we will be on our own with adversaries and enemies in every direction.”
Six of the countries targeted are part of the 27-member EU, which operates as a single economic zone in terms of trading. It was not immediately clear if Trump's tariffs would impact the entire bloc. EU envoys scheduled emergency talks for Sunday evening to determine a potential response.
The tariff announcement even drew blowback from Trump's populist allies in Europe.
Italy’s right-wing premier, Giorgia Meloni, considered one of Trump’s closest allies on the continent, said Sunday she had spoken to him about the tariffs, which she described as “a mistake.”
The deployment to Greenland of small numbers of troops by some European countries was misunderstood by Washington, Meloni told reporters. She said the deployment was not a move against the U.S. but aimed to provide security against “other actors” that she didn’t name.
French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on social media that “no intimidation or threats will influence us, whether in Ukraine, Greenland or anywhere else in the world when we are faced with such situations." He added that "tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context.”
Jordan Bardella, president of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party in France and also a European Parliament lawmaker, posted that the EU should suspend last year’s tariff deal with the U.S., describing Trump’s threats as “commercial blackmail.”
Trump also achieved the rare feat of uniting Britain’s main political parties — including the hard-right Reform UK party — all of whom criticized the tariff threat.
“We don’t always agree with the U.S. government and in this case we certainly don’t. These tariffs will hurt us,” Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, a longtime champion and ally of Trump, wrote on social media. He stopped short of criticizing Trump's designs on Greenland.
Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who leads the center-left Labour Party, said the tariffs announcement was “completely wrong” and his government would “be pursuing this directly with the U.S. administration.”
The foreign ministers of Denmark and Norway are also expected to address the crisis Sunday in Oslo during a news conference.
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Leicester reported from Paris and Cook from Brussels. Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London, Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, Aamer Madhani in Washington and Josh Boak in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.
A crowd walks to the US consulate to protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A boy holds a crossed out map of Greenland topped by a hairpiece symbolizing U.S. President Donald Trump, during a protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in front of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
People protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in front of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
