Marriott has finally revealed details regarding the early February incident involving former Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin in Phoenix. A court motion now filed by the hotel chain gives a version of events that’s very different from the story told by Irvin and multiple witnesses.
Those details come as a federal judge says the company “blatantly” violated an order to provide Irvin with video recordings of the incident in question. In response to an emergency motion filed by Irvin’s legal team, the judge is allowing the video to be released publicly.
The Marriott motion, according to Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News, describes an encounter with a female employee that was initiated by a “visibly intoxicated” Irvin and quickly escalated into aggressive flirtation, unwanted physical contact, and a graphic proposition from the Hall of Famer.
Irvin filed a lawsuit against Marriott and the woman seeking $100 million in damages after he was sent home from his job covering Super Bowl LVII for NFL Network.
As per the new court filing, written by a Marriott attorney, Irvin “flagged down” the woman in the lobby’s bar area as she was working, asked about her job, told her that he found her attractive, and introduced himself. The woman explained that she was not an NFL fan and didn’t know who Irvin was; Irvin reportedly told her to look him up on the internet.
During this initial exchange, Irvin shook the woman’s hand and also touched her arm “without her consent, causing her to step back, becoming visibly uncomfortable.”
It’s then that Irvin allegedly made the most disturbing accusation contained in the motion document.
Irvin “asked the Victim whether she knew anything about having a ‘big Black man inside of [her],'” per the court motion. “Taken aback by Irvin’s comments, the Victim responded that his comments were inappropriate, and she did not wish to discuss it further.”
“Irvin then attempted to grab the Victim’s hand again and said he was ‘sorry if he brought up bad memories’ for her,” the motion continues. “The Victim pulled her hand away and tried to back away from Irvin as he continued to move towards her.”
Two hotel workers apparently approached in an attempt to intervene, at which point Irvin closed the encounter with another handshake, which the Marriott legal team says the woman returned, “wanting the interaction to end.”
The former Cowboys star allegedly “stated that he would come back to find [the woman] sometime that week when she was working.” He also allegedly “leered” at the woman as she walked away and made suggestive comments overheard by another hotel employee, saying “She bad,” and “I want to hit that.”
Irvin has denied that anything inappropriate took place and explained this week that he had not seen the hotel’s video or even been informed of the exact nature of the woman’s complaints. He has admitted, however, that he had been out drinking earlier in the evening and did not recall the exact nature of his brief conversation with the woman.
This week, though, Irvin compared the accusations to a modern-day lynching. Earlier in the week, two men whom the three-time Super Bowl champ had just met said that they witnessed the entire exchange and saw nothing about the conversation or the woman’s body language that caused any sort of concern at the time.
Irvin’s attorney fired back at the new detailed allegations Friday.
“Total hogwash,” Levi McCathern said in a statement to Dallas Morning News. “Marriott’s recently created account goes against all the eyewitnesses and Michael’s own testimony as well as common sense. We will release the video next week. There is no sexual assault. The fact Marriott is taking the position that it is is an insult to all of the true female victims out there.”
“I was shocked by Marriott’s prior handling of this situation,” McCathern went on. “I am now disgusted and appalled. I wish trial was tomorrow, so Michael could clear his name and get the compensation he deserves for Marriott’s reckless disregard for the truth.”
The woman reportedly shared her version of events with a coworker that same evening and then told her supervisor about the incident the next morning.
The hotel reported the incident to the NFL, following guidelines that had been established just the day prior regarding any league employees staying at the hotel. No criminal complaint was ever received by local police about the matter.
Prior to Friday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant, only McCathern had seen the hotel’s video footage, which blurred out the woman’s face. The judge was not pleased with the hotel chain deciding to place its own conditions on who could view the footage and how.
“It seems like Marriott just looked at my order and didn’t want to produce the video,” Mazzant said.
The judge has now ordered the video to be produced “without modification.”
Irvin’s lawyer says that video’s public release will be the key to exonerating the NFL legend.
“Everybody who views [the video] will see what I’ve seen and what the witnesses who were there have seen,” McCathern said. “Michael didn’t do anything wrong.”
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