Phil Williams: Won't Cover Harrowing Child Abuse Case Because #JusticeForGrant People Are "Unhinged"
Since when have unhinged comments ever stopped him before?
After nearly four years of ignoring questions about why he hasn't covered Grant and Gracie Solomon's story, Nashville's Phil Williams finally offered a public explanation.
Or, rather, he insinuated the reason with another smarmy tweet.
Phil attached a few recent tweets from other Twitter users, mostly talking about an alleged relationship between him and substantiated child abuser Aaron Solomon. He highlighted where Angie retweeted some. Pointing arrows up to those tweets, he wrote, “For those asking, ‘why won't you cover this story?’”
Yes, the allegation is shocking. It comes from sources in and around the Nashville media who claim it's been an open secret within the industry, but those sources have been unwilling to go on the record about it. So, it's not exactly “new” gossip, but it's certainly new to the public and most of Phil's devoted fans. And people are naturally outraged that anyone would dare say such a thing.
Obviously, I get it. I get why people would be shocked and angry to read such tweets. Although it's far from the first time that Phil has been accused of something shocking. One big reason why people have been begging Phil to cover #justiceforgrant is because of his reputation for not backing down in the face of insults, threats, or nasty comments.
For example…
Last fall, when Phil covered Franklin mayoral candidate Gabrielle Hanson, her people threw all sorts of threats and insults at him. Yet Phil proudly shared some of those harassing messages, and then bragged that he wouldn't quit. That's what he's supposed to be known for. Getting to the truth.
Now, unsavory accusations are enough to keep him… off a case? I'm genuinely confused how the weekend's accusations explain why Phil has never even given Grant and Gracie Solomon the time of day until now.
I said as much in a couple of my own tweets.
I was not the only one, by the way.
To clarify, I have never accused Phil of having an affair with Aaron Solomon. Instead, I have often asked why he’s protected Aaron by calling Angie crazy.
That's what I was trying to understand over the weekend when he and I had this Twitter exchange:
Unfortunately, that's as far as our conversation went. Phil Williams blocked me on Twitter, and apparently on Instagram, too.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that this whole thing seems to make so much sense to his followers.
For many months, I have been asking Phil to address why we have multiple reports from other media professionals telling us he called Angie Solomon crazy. By calling her crazy, we're told he was discouraging his colleagues from covering any abuse allegations against Aaron.
Once the sexual abuse was substantiated in court, many people thought the local news stations would finally cover the story, but that still didn't happen. We know that plenty of Tenneseans don't take Gracie's story seriously because Phil hasn't covered it. They've said as much. But what about the rest of the industry?
If Phil is going around telling people that there's nothing to cover because Angie is crazy, would that help explain the local media blackout?
Oh, but Phil says that never happened. The only responses he's ever given me are flippant denials, with heavy suggestions that I'm just trying to harass him. In reality, I am earnestly trying to understand how anyone in his position of influence could write Gracie, Grant, and Angie off as unimportant.
If Phil Williams has never called Angie Solomon crazy, it's extremely ironic then that the only thing he'll publicly say about #justiceforgrant circles right back to the idea that… Angie IS crazy.
It’s ironic that there are no other talking points he's willing to take. Despite finally getting his attention, he never sincerely engaged with my questions.
From what I can tell, he quickly wrote me off as a troll and then made light of a horrific child abuse case.
That's the part that people seem to easily forget. Grant, Gracie, and Angie tried to get help to get away from Aaron’s abuse for many years.
We have documentation that every mental health professional was on Angie's side, yet the family court system went against all expert advice and repeatedly made those kids go back to their abuser. It took years to finally get the tide to turn. The sexual abuse was finally substantiated. Aaron Solomon never won his lawsuits against Angie or her online supporters.
But Gracie still has to live with the trauma of her father's abuse. She still has to live with the fear that he will never really be completely out of her life. And she has to live without her biggest protector, her older brother Grant.
Angie has to live without her only son, and live with a million unanswered questions since the authorities never gave Grant their due diligence.
Even if Aaron had nothing to do with Grant's death beyond setting up a pitching practice his son didn't want to attend, doesn't Grant deserve a proper investigation? Don't Gracie and Angie deserve real closure?
How is it that a former news anchor who raped his daughter and didn't even try to save or comfort his dying son was never news?
It's not news that the longtime board member of a highly-esteemed non-profit to prevent child sexual abuse actually abused his own children?
It's not news that this known child abuser is best friends with the former Visuwell CEO Sam Johnson? The same Sam who went viral after he harassed queer kids going to prom and then sued Kathy Griffin?
Don't you think we need better laws to protect our kids so no one has to suffer the way Gracie and Grant suffered under their father's cruel and bizarre abuse?
We certainly need better laws to ensure a proper medical death investigation.
What happened to Grant is a tragedy. What's happened to Gracie and Angie is tragic and traumatic. You'd think that a seasoned vet like Phil Williams might have a lot more empathy for the people at the center of so much pain.
Instead, he's chosen to use his influence and platform to shame a grieving mother, and send out the message that what happened to Grant and Gracie doesn't even matter to the Nashville community. He's wrongly declared that #justiceforgrant will do or say anything to smear innocent people, and that we’re aligned to QAnon.
Phil's fans are now having fun tweeting us images of dildos, calling all of us crazy, and visiting our other social media accounts to laugh at what they've called our “pathetic little movement.” They're mocking Angie, a victim of domestic violence, for having had a sexual relationship with Aaron as his wife despite the pieces I've written that reveal Angie was also raped by Aaron Solomon. Nobody mocking Angie or #justiceforgrant has the facts, nor do they care, largely because it's been ignored and now belittled by Phil Williams.
This is how people react to child abuse. Or to a child predator living his life like nothing happened, while still attending high school sporting events to photograph children. This is how people react to so many adults breaking the law by failing to report child abuse.
At the heart of this story is a girl who bravely told the whole world that her news anchor father raped her and killed her brother.
For three long years, Gracie's video has lingered online, and the Nashville media has pretended they didn't give years of air-time to a predator, Aaron Solomon.
Now, our biggest self-proclaimed truth-to-power journalist suggests he never covered her claims because the mom is “unhinged…” Oh, but he also denied ever calling her crazy?
That's weirdly convenient.
Last night, Phil took home his fourth Peabody Award for his investigation into Gabrielle Hanson. That's the same investigation I have frequently brought up as merely scratching the surface of corruption in Williamson County. That's the case with so many tangents into Grant and Gracie's story, that Phil conveniently ignored.
I would love to know why Phil doesn't want to cover the breadth of corruption to reveal just how many Williamson County leaders allowed two innocent kids to be abused for years until Grant's senseless death, but I'm afraid that must make me crazy, too.
ICYMI: Here's a list of some of the stories I've written about this winding case since 2021.