Peyton Manning calls HGH allegations ‘slapstick lies’

“I rotate between being angry, furious, but disgusted is really how I feel about it. Sickened,” Manning told Salters. “I don’t really understand how someone can make something about somebody, admit that he made it up, and then somehow it gets published in a story.”

“What hurts me the most about this, is that whoever this guy is, this slapstick trying to insinuate that in 2011 when I more or less had a broken neck, four neck surgeries, I busted my butt to get healthy. I put in a lot of hard work, I saw a lot of doctors ... It stings me that this guy, whoever he is, is insinuating that I cut corners and that I broke the rules in order to get healthy. It’s a joke. It’s a freaking joke.”

The entire ESPN interview can be seen below:

The report from Al Jazeera is scheduled to air in full on Sunday, but a preview of the documentary was published by the Huffington Post on Saturday and it alleged that Manning was one of several professional athletes to receive banned performance-enhancing drugs from an Indianapolis anti-aging clinic.

Charlie Sly, a pharmacist who worked at the clinic, was secretly recorded in the documentary and said that the clinic sent banned drugs to Manning’s wife, Ashley Manning, so that the quarterback’s name wasn’t associated with the clinic or drugs.

A spokesman for Manning said that Ashley Manning was a client at the clinic and had a prescription, but declined to say for what.

“It makes me sick that it brings Ashley into it,” Manning said. “Any medical treatment that my wife received, that’s her business. That has nothing to do with me.”

Sly has since said that he fabricated stories of Manning’s involvement and said that claims he supplied athletes with performance-enhancing drugs are “false and incorrect.” Manning said on Sunday that he has never met Sly and had never heard of him before Saturday.

We’ve been made aware of the recent Al Jazeera report concerning Peyton Manning and find it utterly ridiculous. We are thoroughly familiar with Peyton’s tireless work habits, his medical history, and, most importantly, his integrity. Peyton played the game in Indianapolis for 14 years the right way. He never took any shortcuts and it would be absurd to suggest he would have taken prohibited performance enhancing drugs. We also note that the “source” of this allegation has since recanted his story. The entire Indianapolis Colts organization and the Irsay family hope this crude effort to besmirch Peyton’s reputation will not be permitted to tarnish the legacy of a great Colt.

Manning did not deny that he visited the clinic, but said he went with Colts trainers and used legal substances, and did rehabilitation with hyperbaric chambers.