Man Sues Yankees And ESPN For Defamation After They Allegedly Made Fun Of Him Sleeping On Camera During A Game

Bogey Wells10 years ago

Baseball isn’t always the most exciting sport. I get that. I played baseball for most of my life, too. However, I will never understand how in the world anyone can fall asleep completely during a live sporting event. You most likely paid at least $40 per ticket to take a nap? Do that shit at home, dude.

A fan in New York is suing the Yankees, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, ESPN New York, and ESPN announcers Dan Shulman and John Kruk after they reportedly made fun of him for falling asleep during the game while live and on air. He is demanding a measly $10 million for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

From Courthouse News Service:

Rector claims he was filmed, and defamed, at the April 13 game between the Yankees and Red Sox, at Yankee Stadium.

“In the course of watching the game plaintiff napped and this opened unending verbal crusade against the napping plaintiff,” the complaint states.

ESPN focused its cameras on him, Rector says, and then “Announcers like Dan Shulman and John Kruck unleashed avalanche of disparaging words against the person of and concerning the plaintiff. These words, include but not limited to ‘stupor, fatty, unintelligent, stupid’ knowing and intending the same to be heard and listened to by millions of people all over the world …”

The suit continues on, giving a list of demeaning phrases allegedly uttered by the ESPN crew.

1. “Plaintiff is unintelligent and stupid individual.
2. “Plaintiff is not worthy to be fan of the New York Yankee.
3. “Plaintiff is a fatty cow that need two seats at all time and represent symbol of failure.
4. “Plaintiff is a confused disgusted and socially bankrupt individual.
5. “Plaintiff is confused individual that neither understands nor knows anything about history and the meaning of rivalry between Red Sox and New York Yankee.
6. “Plaintiff is so stupid that he cannot differentiate between his house and public place by snoozing throughout the fourth inning of the Yankee game.”

That is quite the list of insults. While I haven’t seen the actual footage from that particular broadcast, I have a hard time believing they were able to throw so many over-the-top insults and name-calling into such a small period of time.

I can’t see this holding up in court. If anything, this fan can’t even manage to spell John Kruk’s name correctly in the complaint. In fact, it appears to be misspelled twice, and in two different ways. Now that is the true travesty in this case.

Fucking lawyers.

[via Courthouse News Service]

Image via ESPN/Facebook