The Erin Andrews civil case currently has more drama and curveballs than the sporting events the Fox Sports host covers.
The 37-year-old sportscaster took to the stand in a Nashville, Tennessee, court this week to testify in the $75 million lawsuit against the Marriott at Vanderbilt University, Windsor Capital Group and Michael David Barrett — the man who pleaded guilty to recording videos of her in 2008 and posting them on the Internet.
See the latest developments in the case below.
Andrews cries on the stand
Recounting suggestions at the time that she staged the video leak as a publicity stunt, Andrews told the court on Monday: “I feel so ashamed … This happens every day of my life. Either I get a tweet, or somebody makes a comment in the paper, or somebody sends me a still of the video to my Twitter, or somebody screams it at me in the stands. And I’m right back to this,” she said.
The incident made her afraid to date
Andrews, who was most recently romantically involved with L.A. Kings and Minnesota Wild center Jarret Stoll, said the the attention had made her scared to meet new people or go on a date. Before going out, she would ask herself, “Has he seen the video?”
She believes violation could have been prevented by hotel employees
“This could have been stopped,” Andrews said during her testimony. “The Nashville Marriott could have just called me and said, ‘We’re putting this man that requested to be next to you, is this OK?’ And I would have called the cops and we would have gotten him. I’m so angry. I’m so mad.”
ESPN denies claims that it wasn’t supportive of its then-employee
A reporter for ESPN in 2008, Andrews claims the network required that she submit to a sit-down interview about the incident before being allowed to go on the air again, “because there wasn’t an arrest,” suggesting she didn’t have the full faith and support of the network. Andrews said ESPN was “highly recommending” the interview be conducted on ABC’s Good Morning America “because ESPN and ABC are the same,” but she opted instead to do it with Oprah Winfrey.
However, ESPN refuted that account in a statement Tuesday, saying, “Developments in the case have been interpreted by some to mean that ESPN was unsupportive of Erin in the aftermath of her ordeal. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have been and continue to be supportive of Erin.” Andrews left ESPN for Fox Sports in 2012.
Defense tells court that Andrews profited from stalker video
Lawyers defending the hotel chain claim that Andrews somehow profited or gained exposure professionally from the illegally obtained video. According to Exavier Pope, who hosts his own sports law podcast and has appeared on ESPN and CNBC, the defense attorney walked Andrews through the timeline of her contracts with ESPN and Fox, connecting it back to the timing of the crime.
Marriott's defense just asserted Erin Andrews made more money in her career as a result of the Barrett stalker video going viral. Disgusting
— ??????? ???? (@exavierpope) March 1, 2016
To: Sports Media.
If this is true, it might be time to consider a boycott of Marriott properties. https://t.co/z97rurcLcI— Peter King (@peter_king) March 1, 2016