Michael Irvin’s legal team held a press conference Tuesday to clear up the status of the former Cowboy’s $100 million defamation lawsuit and show the highly-anticipated video that they believe proves the Hall of Famer did not sexually harass a woman in the lobby of a Phoenix hotel last month.
Attorney Levi McCathern pointed out to media members that while he did, in fact, file a dismissal of Irvin’s lawsuit within the state of Texas on Monday, the case was immediately re-filed in Arizona, where the alleged incident occurred on Feb. 5.
But the focus of the press conference, the second for Irvin and his lawyers in a one-week span, was to play the hotel’s surveillance footage that late last week was ordered released by a federal judge.
Irvin and his team believe the video makes it clear that- despite the woman’s claims of graphic language and aggressive, unwanted flirtation from Irvin- nothing inappropriate happened during the ex-wide receiver’s brief exchange with the female hotel employee.
“We used to say, when we played football,” Irvin explained, “‘the eye in the sky don’t tell no lie.’ It’s just the truth. We can talk and tell lies, but ‘the eye in the sky don’t tell no lies.'”
The video, which has no accompanying audio, shows an interaction that lasts less than two minutes total. In it, Irvin can be seen shaking the woman’s hand at the beginning and end of their conversation. While he does reach out and touch the woman’s arm twice, there is space between them for the entirety of their encounter.
Michael Irvin told me “we used to say in football…the eye in the sky don’t tell no lie.” The Cowboys Hall of Famer says this video proves he didn’t sexually assault the woman. Irvin’s legal team says his interaction with the woman backs up his innocence. @FOX4 pic.twitter.com/RKu73DOKxR
— Steven Dial (@StevenDialFox4) March 14, 2023
The footage appears to show the woman going out of her way to deliberately “intercept” Irvin as he re-entered the lobby from taking a photo out front with fans; the hotel claimed that the three-time Super Bowl champ “flagged down” the woman.
McCathern went on to point out several instances of the woman’s body language that would not seem to be at all consistent with the expected actions of someone who was just offended by the sort of lewd proposition the woman claims Irvin made.
On Tuesday, the 57-year-old directly addressed the most disturbing allegation- one that was not only sexually explicit but also carried racial overtones.
“I don’t speak like that,” Irvin said. “I’ve never spoken like that. I’m not even… I totally deny saying that. I totally deny saying that.”
On tape, Irvin’s conversation with the woman ends in a visibly unremarkable fashion and the two part ways.
Video footage shows Irvin then being approached by a second hotel employee. During that conversation, Irvin can be seen playfully slapping his own face three times- something last week’s hotel filing did specify- before taking a selfie with the second employee.
More crucially, though, McCathern notes the presence of another hotel worker who is in close proximity to the female employee before and after her exchange with Irvin and appears to be demonstrably upset about something.
The attorney stated an interest in eventually obtaining other camera angles of the exchange as well as additional footage from the hotel’s video archives that would show the actions and movements of Irvin and the female employee prior to the released clip.
The refiled case names Marriott International as the parent company of the hotel, the separate company that technically operates the hotel, and four individuals, including the female employee. She is identified in court documents as “Jane Doe.”
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