Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos strongly refuted allegations made in a TV news documentary that the star quarterback used banned performance-enhancing drugs while recovering from injuries in 2011.
The Al Jazeera report titled "The Dark Side" was based on secretly-recorded video of doctors and pharmacists approached by a British athlete who was carrying the network's hidden camera. It also named several Green Bay Packers players and a pro baseball player.
"There's a bunch of football players who take this and a bunch of baseball players who take it, too," pharmacist Charlie Sly is heard saying about the artificial growth hormone Delta 2.
Watch the full report:
While the report implicates several other players, the allegations about Manning, 39, are the most sensational. Sly alleges that Manning was treated with the banned substances by a doctor at The Guyer Institute in Indianapolis while with the NFL's Colts.
"All the time we would be sending Ashley Manning drugs, like, growth hormone, all the time, everywhere, Florida, We were sending it everywhere. It would never be under Peyton's name, it would always be under her name. We were sending it everywhere"
Sly, who did not know he was being recorded, is heard saying that Manning and his wife would visit the anti-aging clinic at night.
The documentary concluded with denials by Manning, issued through his manager, calling the report "baseless and absolutely false" and that Manning has "never done what this person is suggesting."
"The treatment he received at the Guyer Institute was provided on the advice of his physician and with the knowledge of team doctors and trainers," the statement said. He only received treatments "during regular business hours or right after his team's afternoon practices."
"Any medical treatment received by Ashley is a private matter of hers, her doctor and her family," the statement said. Any "medications shipped "prescribed by her doctor and taken solely by her" and it is "outrageous and wrong" to imply anything else.
The Denver Broncos tweeted a statement Sunday saying the team supports their quarterback "100 percent."
"These are false claims made to Al Jazeera, and we don't believe the report," the Broncos said. "Peyton is rightfully outraged by the allegations, which he emphatically denied to our organization and which have been publicly renounced by the source who initially provided them.
Statement from the #Broncos on Peyton #Manning https://t.co/ahTiGzucPp pic.twitter.com/9pyYxskC6z
-- Denver Broncos (@Broncos) December 27, 2015
ESPN, which has a lucrative business association with the NFL, quickly defended the star. The sports network tweeted a statement from the pharmacist extensively quoted in Al Jazeera's report as now recanting his words, now saying he never personally saw the Mannings at the Indianapolis clinic. "Someone who worked there said they had been there before," Charlie Sly said. "That was the extent of any knowledge I had."
The pharmacist named in the Al Jazeera report has recanted his statement. pic.twitter.com/QV0AJqwwSB
-- NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) December 27, 2015
