Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin filed a lawsuit seeking $100 million in damages after claiming that a Phoenix hotel and a female employee wrongfully accused him of misconduct.
The lawsuit, obtained by USA TODAY Sports, was filed in Collin County, Texas, on Thursday. It lists a ‘Jane Doe’ and Marriott International as defendants.
The complaint stems from an incident at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on Sunday in which Irvin says he only encountered the unknown woman for a minute, shook her hand and then went to his hotel room to sleep.
In the lawsuit, Irvin says he was “shockingly woken up by a crew of security” and removed from the hotel “without any explanation or questions.”
Irvin, who was in town to do commentary work for the NFL Network for Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, was then sent home, with network representatives confirming that Irvin would not be part of any telecast this week.
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‘Evidently, as Plaintiff was sleeping one of the managers of the Hotel reported false information to the NFL about the Plaintiff accusing him of improper behavior towards a hotel employee,’ the lawsuit states. ‘The NFL responded by removing Plaintiff from all scheduled programming surrounding the Super Bowl. Plaintiff’s representatives have reached out to the hotel and even met in person to obtain clarity about this situation and provide witnesses and resolve this matter before Plaintiff’s reputation could be damaged any further—but to no avail.’
Irvin, 56, has said in previous media interviews this week that he did nothing wrong.
‘Plaintiff was judged guilty without even knowing the accusations. A few days later, Plaintiff was removed from his scheduled programming, and essentially ‘kicked off the air’ and ‘cancelled’ due to these allegations,’ the lawsuit said.
Irvin, who has worked for NFL Network since 2009, said earlier in the week he had been drinking the night of the incident.
‘It is clear Michael is the latest victim of our cancel culture where all it takes is an accusation to ruin a person’s life. Michael looks forward to clearing his name in court and hopes the court of public opinion will see the truth come out as well,’ Irvin’s lawyer Levi McCathern said in a statement to USA TODAY Sports.
Attempts to contact Marriott’s attorney for comment were unsuccessful.
“I don’t really recall that conversation, to tell you the truth,” Irvin told the Dallas Morning News. “We were out drinking. It was just a friendly conversation. ‘What’s up?’ I don’t even know. … I am totally perplexed. That’s honestly all that happened.”
