A clearly emotional Michael Irvin wiped away tears as he listened to a witness defend him against allegations of misconduct that resulted in him being sent home from the Super Bowl last month.
The NFL legend-turned-analyst was in Arizona to work the season finale, but ended up heading home before the game after a short meeting with a female employee in the lobby of the Marriott hotel.
Irvin is now seeking $100million in damages from ‘Jane Doe’ and the Marriott – with the latter initially reluctant to share inside surveillance footage of the incident.
On Wednesday, Irvin was present at a press conference alongside his lawyer, and he appeared visibly emotional as he relived the incident through the witness.
Being videoed at a table while the witness spoke on Zoom on a screen behind him, Irvin can be seen taking off his glasses and wiping tears from his eyes.
‘This takes me back to a time where a white woman would accuse a Black man of something and they would take a bunch of guys that were above the law, run in the barn, put a rope around his foot and drag him through the mud and hang him by the tree,’ he said.
Irvin also called the whole incident ‘sickening’ and insisted it has made him question any and all future meetings with fans, for fear of what might be alleged.
Meanwhile, Irvin’s attorneys said upon finally receiving the video from a Phoenix, Arizona Marriott hotel – that it shows no misconduct and nothing inappropriate.
Levi McCathern said to reporters at the Dallas press conference that Marriott turned over the video after a federal court ordered the chain to do so.
While the chain wouldn’t give him a copy or allow him to record the footage, McCathern says the exchange between the accuser – a hotel worker – and Irvin seemed innocent.
McCathern says the tape shows Irvin and the woman meeting behind a pole before coming into the camera’s view.
The lawyer says Irvin was seen touching the woman only four times – twice for a handshake to say hello and goodbye, as well as two touches on the elbow.
‘She never acts upset,’ McCathern said of the woman’s behavior.
‘She doesn’t act like there’s any problems at all.’
In addition to the video, McCathern produced two witnesses via Zoom who were in the lobby when the alleged incident occurred – saying they didn’t see anything inappropriate between the two.
The two men who were in a Phoenix hotel lobby the night that Hall of Fame wide receiver Irvin was accused of misconduct with a female employee said they didn’t see him do anything wrong and that his brief interaction with the woman appeared friendly.
Phil Watkins of Australia and Bryn Davis of Philadelphia appeared at a news conference by video link with Irvin and his attorney.
Irvin has filed a $100million defamation lawsuit against a ‘Jane Doe’ and Marriott International Inc., alleging that a false misconduct claim on February 5 caused him to be kicked out of the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel hotel and removed from the NFL Network’s Super Bowl week coverage.
Watkins said he saw ‘nothing at all’ that could be considered inappropriate, and that Irvin and the woman shook hands and laughed.
‘There was nothing untoward out of the interaction,’ and Irvin soon left for the elevator as the woman went back toward the bar, Watkins said.
‘The allegations are nonsense,’ McCathern said. ‘We need to immediately get Michael back to work, and I believe Renaissance needs to apologize.’
Marriott officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
McCathern has also filed a motion to get Marriott to turn over the video as soon as possible to submit it into evidence for possible public view.
