Marriott’s refusal to provide surveillance footage of an alleged incident involving Michael Irvin days before Super Bowl LVII has the former NFL star’s attorney “mad as well,” the lawyer said in a new interview.
Irvin is suing Marriott International for defamation after he was removed from a Phoenix hotel following an encounter with a female employee. Marriott declined to provide requested materials by Monday’s deadline but gave reasons for why it wouldn’t release them, Irvin’s attorney, Levi McCathern, told the Dallas Morning News.
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“I’m mad as hell that they’re hiding this stuff that is so relevant to my client’s livelihood,” McCarthern said Tuesday. “I think it is terrible they’re doing that. I don’t know what’s on the video. None of us have gotten to see it. But I sure think that, at a minimum, Michael has got a right to see the video.”
Irvin, who spent his 12-year playing career with the Dallas Cowboys, was removed as a commentator on NFL Network and ESPN’s coverage of Super Bowl week after the Feb. 5 incident.
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Irvin, 56, claimed he spoke with the woman in the lobby for 45 seconds, and that their only physical contact was a handshake.
“I don’t really recall that conversation, to tell you the truth,” Irvin told the Morning News earlier this month. “We were out drinking. It was just a friendly conversation. ‘What’s up?’ I don’t even know. … I am totally perplexed.”
Irvin’s legal team filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Marriott and the woman on Feb. 9.
The former wide receiver was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and joined NFL Network as an analyst two years later. He also appears on ESPN’s “First Take.”
