Schilling gives first live interview

(WPRI) - At around 7:00 a.m. Friday, Curt Schilling gave his first live interview about his now-bankrupt company since the scandal broke last month.

Schilling answered the first question of the interview saying this whole experience has been surreal.

"Never in my wildest dreams would I expect it to be either here or close to here, up until two months ago. Then it all happened so fast. And it’s been kind of a surreal 60 days, 75 days,” he said.

Watching the scenario play out has been a shock for Schilling.

“The employees got blindsided. One of the many, many mistakes that was made, that I made, that we made as a leadership team, was that this came out of nowhere for them.”

Asked if he was broke, Schilling said, “I’m tapped out.” According to Schilling, he never even made a salary with 38 Studios. He added that he sunk just north of $50 million of his money into the company.

“I put everything in my name into this company. I believed in it. I believed in what we had built. I never took a penny from this company. Never took a penny in salary. Never took a penny for anything. But it was different. What we built was so incredibly different from a company perspective. What we had, it was amazing. I think it was a dream place to work, and you’ll have to ask employees whether that was true or not. ”

Friday's interview serves as his first public comment of any kind since a posting on LinkedIn and Twitter on June 1.

Schilling appeared in studio with The Dennis and Callahan Show on WEEI radio (103.7 FM). The live interview was also broadcast on NESN-TV. He also took callers questions during the interview.

• PDF: EDC fact sheet on 38 Studios
• In-Depth: 38 Studios Scandal
• 38 Studios: The Key Players
• Timeline: How 38 Studios Deal Unfolded

One caller told Schilling "the blame game has got to stop."

"The hard thing to say, for me, is there's a blame pyre, this failed. And there's reasons it's failed. There are people at fault and I am one of those people," said Schilling.

Schilling explained after Gov. Chafee went into office he visited 38 Studios and made a public comment that he was against the 38 Studios deal before he got elected, but now that he was office he would do everything he could do to help the company succeed.

"And that absolutely, unequivocal, never, ever happened in any possible way. And that's not the sole reason this company failed," said Schilling.

It's been a rough stretch for Schilling since 38 Studios filed for bankruptcy on May 23. Both federal and state investigators have launched a probe into the company's finances. 

“I’m not asking for sympathy, that was my choice. I chose to do this. I wanted to do this. I wanted to build this, to create the jobs, create something that had a very longstanding, world-changing effect. We were close, we were close to getting there,” Schilling admitted.

38 Studios defaulted May 1 by failing to make the payment to the EDC, which is supposed to be paid annually under the terms of its 2010 loan deal.

“We were never worried about actually getting the money to make the payroll, we were just assuming that there were semantics and some people were getting involved and negotiating for things during the discussion around the tax credits just for that reason. And then it became a potential reality that we weren’t actually going to get the money. And I had already funded the company as far as it could go. And it just spiraled out of control,” Schilling said.

In late May, Schilling told The Providence Journal that public remarks by Gov. Lincoln Chafee that the state was trying to keep his company solvent were "devastating." During his interview on WEEI he admits what he calls a "colossal" mistake.

“If you look at the last 60 days, and look at the every comment the state of Rhode Island made. The other challenge is, when I say the state of Rhode Island, I’m talking about very few specific people. I’m not talking about the taxpayers. I think that one colossal mistake that we made from the onset was not engaging the Providence community. And literally, if we needed to have Open House, bringing them in to let them see what it was that we were doing. We were incredibly silent to the point where it caused problems.”

Last week Schilling was sued by Citizen's Bank for more than $2 million. After that, he took a leave of absence from his baseball analyst position at ESPN.

Governor Lincoln Chafee's office responded to Schilling's interview Friday saying, "I’m glad Mr. Schilling is taking responsibility for his mistakes and errors in judgment, notwithstanding his claims that the state was not a good partner."

"The Governor repeatedly stated in public that he was willing to work with the company should they produce a viable business plan. The Governor’s efforts continue to be focused on ensuring that Rhode Island taxpayers are protected."