Phil Williams' Latest Lie About Doing The Right Thing In Journalism

The great lie of omission is child sexual abuse

Some of you might recall several previous posts about my disappointment in a local investigative reporter named Phil Williams. For years, I begged him to cover Gracie Solomon's allegations against her father Aaron, and the many disturbing questions about her brother Grant's death in July 2020. Anytime I saw that one of his stories intersected with the abuse detailed by the Solomon children, I brought up the connection and asked Phil if he could comment.

Well, he finally commented publicly on Grant's death in 2023.

Completely ignoring the court-substantiated sexual abuse of a then-minor Gracie by her father Aaron, Phil declared that we (the Solomon children's supporters) “don't know the real story.” You'd think that after years of police and government agencies insisting the same thing, somebody would be able to tell us the real story of Grant's death. Or at least provide some bit of clarity. Even one detail to help put some of the inconsistencies into perspective. Yet they never do.

When I asked Phil about multiple reports from media professionals that he'd discouraged other colleagues from covering the allegations against Aaron by calling the children's mother Angie “crazy,” he denied knowing what I was talking about, and proceeded to treat me like a MAGA troll. Ironic since I'm what much of the MAGA crowd calls a bleeding heart liberal or social justice warrior… and they say it like it's a bad thing.

Once another writer (not me!) accused Phil of having had a previous romantic relationship with Aaron Solomon, he suggested that he would never cover the story because Justice For Grant supporters are “unhinged.”

That's right, folks. After denying he ever called a grieving mother crazy, Phil finally broke his years of silence on the case… by using another word for crazy.

I respectfully asked Phil to correct anything I'd gotten wrong in my coverage of Gracie's story and Grant's death, telling him I was happy to publish any necessary corrections. I also pointed out the long history of Aaron’s abuse as witnessed by multiple parties, including the children's guardian ad litem, attorney Heather Webb. I pointed out how multiple mental health professionals all testified in court that Angie was a mentally fit parent who'd been abused by her husband Aaron, and that they feared for her and the children's safety. I pointed out that while Angie was required to undergo extensive and repeated psychiatric evaluations by the court, Aaron wasn't even evaluated once.

I mentioned that even if Angie were crazy, that wouldn't mean she or her children deserved to be abused.

Phil never replied to any of my concerns with substance. Instead, he sent an eye-rolling meme and blocked me across various social media platforms.

Ever since Phil first conflated Justice For Grant and Gracie supporters with hateful far right extremists, fellow liberals have accused me of bigotry whenever I try to share my writing on the matter. Even my 2023 piece on Conservative corruption in Franklin running deeper than Gabrielle Hanson's bizarre mayoral campaign.

After years of angering Christian Nationalists for my coverage of Gracie Solomon's story of child abuse, it's now supposedly like-minded liberals who repeatedly write me off as crazy.

We're talking about child abuse yet both sides keep trying to politicize the issue for their own advantage. As if abusers don't operate across all party lines and religions!

I hate it.

Everyone is missing the point when they ignore Gracie's story because they don't like me or because they dislike another one of her supporters. In 2021, a 14-year-old child bravely detailed how her father raped her, how he abused her and her brother for many years, and why she genuinely believes he killed her brother to keep the truth quiet. Gracie bravely named many of the adults who enabled the abuse and those who failed to lawfully report it. And what happened? Even more adults let her down.

Now, in 2025, her father remains a free man, and despite multiple periods where her story has gone viral, the media has largely ignored her pleas for help. Reporters like Phil Williams have actively prevented others from taking her story seriously.

Obviously, we talk so much about Justice For Grant, because there was never a legitimate investigation into his death, although his estranged and abusive father was the only witness to the unusual accident that claimed his life.

It's easy to get lost in all of the inconsistencies and disturbing details of every department that has failed to deliver Justice For Grant.

Meanwhile, I'd like to remind people that Gracie is still living this nightmare where her abuser is free to live his life however he pleases. As the substantiated perpetrator of sexual abuse of a minor, he still attends high school sporting events, photographs minor students, and goes about his business as if he didn't violate his children for years.

We haven't seen justice for Grant or Gracie Solomon, and the Nashville News media has failed these kids. Phil Williams has specifically failed these kids.

That's the point, people. A staggering amount of adults has ignored and continued to ignore child sexual abuse while protecting a known pedophile. Whether or not Phil admits it isn't the point. His actions, statements, and lies of omission have still protected Gracie's abuser.

---

The day after Christmas, Nashville News Channel 5 published a ghastly opinion piece by Phil Williams. In it, Phil called himself a “truth-teller,” and falsely suggested that all criticism against him over the past 15 months has come from hate-filled white supremacists, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and other far right political extremists.

Um, hi? I guess he's conveniently forgetting his critics on the Left?