The previous Navy SEAL who fatally shot terror chief Osama bin Laden is suing two podcasters for $25 million for repeatedly claiming he lied about assassinating the al-Qaeda chief, based on new courtroom papers.
Robert O’Neill, a extremely embellished ex-member of the ultra-elite navy unit, claims Antihero Broadcast podcasters Tyler Hoover and Brent Tucker started their unfair on-air campaign towards him in 2023 and have since continued to falsely declare he lied about his heroic 2012 act, based on the Westchester County Supreme Court docket lawsuit filed Monday — the eve of Veteran’s Day.
Hoover, 37, and Tucker, 45, each Florida residents and navy veterans themselves, first launched their smear marketing campaign towards O’Neill to get clicks and convey consideration to their YouTube channel, the go well with alleged.
“Moreover the Rob O’Neill who didn’t kill bin Laden,” Tucker mentioned at one level throughout the pair’s Aug. 9, 2023, episode on Antihero, which at the moment has 120,000 subscribers.
“No, he didn’t kill Biden Laden! … It’s the worst-kept secret in all of particular ops,’’ Tucker claimed. “I’m not going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, I used to be on the mission.’ I’d be as large a liar as Rob O’Neill.”
Tucker claimed he’s mates with a few of the different males who have been on the mission and that whereas they’re too skilled to contradict O’Neill’s account, additionally they haven’t mentioned, “ ‘Oh, yeah, he’s a fantastic man. He killed Osama bin Laden.’
“They gained’t do it,” Tucker mentioned.
O’Neill, 49, was on SEAL Staff Six for its well-known Could 2, 2011, Operation Neptune’s Spear and was personally liable for touchdown the pictures that killed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist plotter, the go well with mentioned.
That reality was corroborated by the mission’s chief, retired Admr. William H. McRaven, the lawsuit mentioned.
“The story that I’ve been truthful with the complete time is that I had one [other] man [on the mission] in entrance of me,” O’Neill informed The Submit in an unique interview.
“He went one course on the prime of the steps to confront what he thought was a suicide bomber. I turned the opposite method, and Osama bin Laden was standing there, and so I shot him thrice.
“I killed Osama bin Laden.”
“What [Tucker and Hoover] are saying will not be true in any respect,” O’Neill mentioned.
On Oct. 23, 2025, on Tucker’s new podcast “Tier1,” Tucker claimed that the very fact he hadn’t not been sued but by O’Neill was additional proof that Tucker had been proper all alongside about O’Neill’s alleged lies, the go well with mentioned.
Tucker and Hoover “had a parting of how” by that point, the doc mentioned.
“By no means get a lawsuit,’’ Tucker mentioned throughout the episode. “They’d sue me in a heartbeat. By no means. … You’ll be able to guess why they don’t have a lawsuit towards me.’’
O’Neill fired again to The Submit that if suing them is “what it takes to cease it, than that is what I’m doing.”
He mentioned the duo “point out me on a regular basis, on all their episodes. … It’s not stopping.”
The podcasters “did not carry out even fundamental due diligence” earlier than slandering O’Neill, the go well with mentioned.
O’Neill — who doesn’t know the podcasters personally — mentioned it’s significantly troubling to him they’ve focused a fellow veteran.
O’Neill mentioned if they’ve issues with different vets, they need to strategy them privately — particularly contemplating the hurt of calling individuals out publicly who usually wrestle with publish traumatic stress dysfunction.
“The vet-on-vet factor has gotten just a little bit uncontrolled, and I wish to have it cease,” O’Neill mentioned.
“I wish to set a precedent. We shouldn’t be doing this to one another publicly. We ought to be doing it privately.”
O’Neill — a Westchester County resident — retired from the navy in 2012 after 16 years of service and has since constructed a profession on public talking and not too long ago began a enterprise educating individuals how to achieve success leaders.
He additionally launched a enterprise promoting his personal model of pot.
However O’Neill — who’s married with a daughter and is anticipating one other youngster — had his “life abruptly interrupted” when the podcasts continued false commentary about him, his go well with claimed.
“The defendants’ unfounded and defamatory claims that O’Neill is a liar and a fraud have broken his repute and profession,” the submitting charged.
O’Neill now has fewer talking engagement alternatives, and his profession has typically suffered, the go well with claimed.
The defamation has additionally precipitated him “psychological and physiological hurt, along with embarrassment,” the courtroom papers alleged.
O’Neill mentioned any monetary features from his lawsuit will likely be donated to assist veterans with PTSD obtain remedy.
Tucker and Hoover each didn’t return Submit messages in search of remark.
