ESPN defended its decision to honor Prince Harry with the Pat Tillman Award for Service amid criticism from the mother of the late NFL star and U.S. Army Ranger after whom the accolade is named and others.

A statement to TMZ from the sports network read, “ESPN, with the support of the Tillman Foundation, is honoring Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, specifically for the work of The Invictus Games Foundation as it celebrates its 10th year promoting healing through the power of sport for military service members and veterans around the world.”

“’While we understand not everyone will agree with all honorees selected for any award, The Invictus Games Foundation does incredible work and ESPN believes this is a cause worth celebrating,” the statement added.

The statement was released after Tillman’s mom, Mary, reacted to news that the member of the royal family would be recognized at this month’s ESPYs with the award named after her son, the NFL safety-turned-Army Ranger who enlisted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and was killed by friendly fire in 2004, according to the New York Post.

This is why people hate @espn today…they do shit like this just to piss half the country off…So U DISGRACE Pat Tillman by giving Prince Harry the Tillman Award for what at the upcoming @ESPYS?..does Harry even know who Pat Tillman is?..I fcking HATE #ESPN! @PatMcAfeeShow pic.twitter.com/sJhHZgYdDq

— #BigSilz (@DanSileoShow) June 30, 2024

“I am shocked as to why they [ESPN] would select such a controversial and divisive individual to receive the award,” Mary told the Daily Mail.

“There are recipients that are far more fitting,” she added. “There are individuals working in the veteran community that are doing tremendous things to assist veterans.”

“These individuals do not have the money, resources, connections or privilege that Prince Harry has,” Tillman’s mother continued. “I feel that those types of individuals should be recognized.”

Following news about the Duke of Sussex being honored, a petition started against the network to make another decision, the Daily Mail noted.

“Awarding this honor to someone who does not reflect the award’s intent diminishes its value and disrespects Tillman’s memory,” the petition read.

ESPN sports analyst Pat McAfee accused his own network of trying to upset people by making the decision.

“It’s going to Prince Harry,” McAfee said.  “Who I don’t even think is a Prince anymore, right? He said don’t call me that? See, why does the ESPYs do this s**t?”

“When you do something like this, you know the immediate reaction from humans and sports fans and like people with common sense and brains is going to be like ‘Hey, don’t be putting our f***ing guy with that guy,’ McAfee added. 

In 2014, Prince Harry — who served in the British Army — launched the Invictus Games which featured a multi-sport, Paralympic-styled event for wounded or injured servicemen and veterans, the New York Post reported.

“This one is for our entire service community,” Harry said after learning that he will receive the Pat Tillman Award, the outlet noted.

The ESPYs will take place on July 11, per TMZ.

The GOP-led House Judiciary Committee sued Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday, requesting that a judge order the audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur be released. 

Earlier this year, the Biden administration asserted executive privilege to block release of the audio of the two-day interview in which Hur pressed the president over his handling of classified documents. The lawsuit from the Judiciary Committee says Biden’s assertion of executive privilege is “frivolous” and the audio of the interviews is important for lawmaker’s inquiry into the Justice Department’s handling of the Biden documents investigation. 

“The Committee thus needs those recordings to assess the Special Counsel’s characterization of the President, which he and White House lawyers have forcefully disputed, and ultimate recommendation that President Biden should not be prosecuted,” the suit says.

Hur recommended no charges for Biden despite the fact he found Biden improperly retained classified documents while out of office, noting his team found that Biden struggled to remember the dates his son died or when he was vice president.

A jury would view Biden, who is now 81, as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” Hur’s report concluded.

The House Judiciary Committee suit asks the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to overrule the assertion of executive privilege and make Garland produce the tapes. House lawmakers say the audio will provide important verbal and nonverbal context missing from the transcripts of the interview that have been made available. 

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“That verbal and nonverbal context is quite important here because the Special Counsel relied on the way that President Biden presented himself during their interview — ’as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory’ — when ultimately recommending that President Biden should not be prosecuted for unlawfully retaining and disclosing classified information,” the suit says.

“The audio recordings, not the cold transcripts, are the best available evidence of how President Biden presented himself during the interview,” the suit adds. 

House Republicans previously voted to hold Garland in contempt over the tapes, but the DOJ declined to prosecute.