Michael Irvin makes first public comments since suing Marriott

Wednesday morning, Michael Irvin held a news conference in Dallas where he made his first public comments since suing Marriott for $100 million.

Last month, Irvin was abruptly removed from the NFL Network’s Super Bowl LVII coverage due to an alleged inappropriate encounter with a female employee at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Phoenix where he was staying. Irvin quickly claimed his innocence and responded to the allegations by filing a $100 million lawsuit against Marriott and his accuser.

At the news conference Wednesday morning, Irvin was joined by his agent Steve Mandell and attorney Levi McCathern. The news conference came one day after McCathern was able to view Marriott’s surveillance video of the alleged encounter between Irvin and his accuser. Marriott was ordered by the court to release a video of the incident.


“The allegations are nonsense,” McCathern said after viewing the encounter. “We need to immediately get Michael back to work.”

According to McCathern, while he was permitted to view the video, he was not given the tape, nor was he allowed to record it for Irvin to see, restrictions that reportedly were not authorized by the court.

“This sickens me, this sickens me,” Irvin said, in a video posted by Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News. “Because in this great country, 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 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,” Irvin continued. “I couldn’t even tell you what she looks like. I don’t know! This just blows my mind that in 2023, we’re still dragging and hanging brothers by a tree. That blows my mind…and absolutely, to not listen to the court, Marriott is above the law, because I still haven’t seen this tape.”

Irvin reiterated on Wednesday that he does not remember the encounter, explaining that he spends most of the NFL season on the road where he meets a lot of people. Immediately after he was removed from NFL Network’s Super Bowl LVII coverage, Irvin called into the Shan & RJ morning show on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas and similarly stated he did not remember the alleged encounter with the hotel employee but cited having had a few drinks.

“It was a minute meeting somewhere in the lobby,” Irvin told Shan Shariff and RJ Choppy during Super Bowl week. “I don’t even remember it really because I had a few drinks, to tell you the truth.”

Irvin’s attorney has filed an emergency motion to force Marriott to surrender the surveillance video of the encounter.

[Michael Gehlken]

About Brandon Contes

Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com