Hall of Fame WR Michael Irvin’s lawyer, Levi McCathern, had a chance to view the surveillance video of the alleged interaction between Irvin and the hotel employee who accused him of wrongdoing, and called the allegations “nonsense.”
At a press conference in Dallas on Wednesday, McCathern said he watched the video from the Marriott Hotel in its entirety but wasn’t given a copy, allowed to record it, or show it to Irvin. McCathern filed an emergency motion to force Marriott to surrender the video.
What Did Irvin’s Lawyer See In The Video?
McCathern claims you only see Irvin and the woman initially meet up behind a pole in the hotel’s lobby before they come into clear view of the camera.
He says Irvin can be seen only touching the woman four times. Once with an initial handshake, twice on the elbow, and once more with a handshake to say goodbye.
“She never acts upset,” McCathern said at the press conference of the woman’s demeanor on the video. “She doesn’t act like there’s any problems at all.”
Irvin Calls It Modern Day Lynching
Irvin took it a step further drawing a connection to this country’s fraught history between white women making false allegations against Black men and the subsequent lynchings of the Black men that took place.
“This sickens me, this sickens me,” Irvin said in a video posted by Dallas Morning News reporter Michael Gehlken. “Because in this great country, it 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 a barn, put a rope around his foot and drag him through the mud and hang him by a tree.
“How can I defend myself if I don’t even know what I’m defending myself against? … This just blows my mind that in 2023, we’re still dragging and hanging brothers by a tree. That blows my mind that I have no opportunity to defend. I don’t even know what I’m defending.”
At the press conference McCathern brought out two witnesses via Zoom who said they were present in the lobby when the alleged incident went down. Both told the room of reporters they didn’t see anything inappropriate between Irvin and his accuser.
Irvin continues to maintain his innocence and filed a $100 million lawsuit against Marriott and the accuser for alleged defamation and tortious interference in a business relationship.
Where Do We Go From Here?
We will have to wait and see if a court orders Marriott to turn over the video and what the result of the video entering into public record means.
This is all a he-said, she-said situation until the video is reviewed and made a matter of public record. Why Marriott held onto the video and didn’t allow Irvin’s legal team to have a copy seems strange.
One way or another, we need to get to the bottom of this incident and get to the truth of what happened. If the accuser is slandering Irvin with these accusations, she needs to be held accountable for that. As does Marriott for their part in reporting the allegations, kicking Irvin out of the hotel, and withholding the video.
If Irvin did something wrong and made any type of untoward advance, then he should be held accountable.
