UPDATE: On December 12, 2019, Adrienne Lawrence’s lawsuit against ESPN was “voluntarily dismissed in its entirety, with prejudice and without costs to either party.” And in an email to TheWrap on July 27, 2021, former ESPN producer Adam Strain characterized Lawrence’s accusations about him as “false” and “factually untrue.”
PREVIOUSLY: A former ESPN host and legal analyst is suing the Disney-owned company for sexual harassment, accusing her co-workers of, among other things, watching pornography in front of her and wondering aloud what Rihanna must “taste like.”
According to a lawsuit filed with the U.S. District Court of Connecticut on March 4, obtained by TheWrap, Adrienne Lawrence claims the Worldwide Leader in Sports is “a company rife with misogyny” where “women are humiliated, degraded, and forced to navigate a misogynistic and predatory culture.”
“At ESPN, male executives and talent keep ‘scorecards’ naming female colleagues they are targeting for sex,” Lawrence’s lawsuit states. “Men openly watch porn on their computers without a care and make repulsive comments about women in front of women, like when they discuss the women in the office ‘they want to f—‘ or when SportsCenter producer Adam Strain and Ms. Lawrence’s co- fellow, Treavor Scales, openly wondered, in Ms. Lawrence’s presence, what popstar Rihanna must ‘taste like,’ concluding that she ‘must taste good,’ and then howling with excitement while Ms. Lawrence sat in disgust before being forced to leave the room.”
In the suit, Lawrence also accuses “SportsCenter” anchor Chris Berman of leaving a “threatening and racially disparaging voicemail” for fellow ESPN star Jemele Hill in 2016. The document states that Hill notified network executive Marcia Keegan of the incident, but ultimately “nothing was done” — a claim Hill herself denies.
“A few years ago, I had a personal conflict with Chris Berman, but the way this conflict has been characterized is dangerously inaccurate,” Hill said in a statement to TheWrap on Monday. “Chris never left any racially disparaging remarks on my voicemail and our conflict was handled swiftly and with the utmost professionalism. I felt as if my concerns were taken seriously by ESPN and addressed in a way that made me feel like a valued employee. Frankly, I’m more disappointed that someone I considered to be a friend at one point would misrepresent and relay a private conversation without my knowledge — in which I simply attempted to be a sounding board — for personal gain.”
The Blast first reported the news of Lawrence’s lawsuit.
The former employee — who began working for the sports giant as part of its fellowship program in August 2015 — says when she complained, the company “reinforced its longstanding practice of retaliating against women and did not renew Ms. Lawrence’s contract or consider her for any employment opportunities whatsoever.”
ESPN is refuting Lawrence’s accusations, which they say have been reviewed by the company.
“We conducted a thorough investigation of the claims Adrienne Lawrence surfaced to ESPN and they are entirely without merit,” the network said in a statement to TheWrap on Monday. “Ms. Lawrence was hired into a two-year talent development program and was told that her contract would not be renewed at the conclusion of the training program. At that same time, ESPN also told 100 other talent with substantially more experience, that their contracts would not be renewed. The company will vigorously defend its position and we are confident we will prevail in court.”
The Boston Globe published a piece about the treatment of women at ESPN last December, which included some of Lawrence’s account against Buccigross. “I considered Adrienne to be a friend. I’m sorry if anything I did or said offended Adrienne,” Buccigross told the Globe at the time. “It certainly wasn’t my intent.”
Following the story, ESPN published text messages between Lawrence and Buccigross, in an attempt to show the two had developed a consensual friendship and no harassment had taken place.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to note the lawsuit was later dismissed and to include ESPN producer Adam Strain’s denial of Lawrence’s “false” accusations against him.
13 People Azealia Banks Has Had Beefs With, From Rihanna and Lady Gaga to Russell Crowe (Photos)
Rihanna is the most recent celebrity to get caught in the crosshairs of Azealia Banks' rage, but she is far from the first to fire up the rapper's rage.
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Rihanna Azealia Banks, who is known to be a supporter of Donald Trump, wasn't at all pleased with celebrities bashing his Muslim travel ban -- especially Rihanna. She called out Rihanna for her comments and went on to post the R&B singer's phone number on her social media page -- to which she retaliated with a screenshot of a text message Banks allegedly sent, accusing her of having a “drug and sex addiction.”
Iggy Azalea This feud started in 2012, when Banks called out XXL magazine for placing Iggy on its "Freshman" cover after she spit lyrics like "runway slave master" in one of her tracks. In 2014, Banks called out Iggy for being quick to appropriate black culture while staying silent went it comes to black issues -- like the police shooting of Mike Brown. She also called her "Igloo Australia."
Iggy hit back with a Twitter rant, calling Banks "poisonous" and blaming her lack of success on her "piss poor attitude."
T.I. and Tiny Azealia's beef with T.I. started as a result of him coming to Iggy's defense. The two went back and forth for a little bit and things appeared to have simmered down ... until Tip released his single "No Mediocre," which caused Banks to come after him and his wife calling her "meth face" and a "busted bumpkin."
Zayn Malik This one all started when the rapper thought one of Zayn's music videos was a rip off of her own. “Damn Zayn be mood boarding the f--- of out me,” she wrote with a collage of images from both videos. “I’m not mad about this though. Zayn is a cutie pie.” Her attitude quickly changed when Zayn tweeted vague messages that Banks assumed were about her ... to which she responded with homophobic slurs directed at Zayn.
Skai Jackson The Disney star got caught in the crosshairs of Banks' feud with Malik when she tweeted that the former needed to "simmer down a little." Once the rapper caught wind of Jackson's tweet she replied "and you need to grow some hips and start ur menses. stay in a child’s place." Jackson then responded with “When a no hip having 14 year old has more class than you. Worry about your career. Get one." OUCH.
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Russell Crowe Banks accused Russell Crowe of hurling racist slurs and attacking her while kicking her out of his Beverly Hills Hotel suite. Witnesses, however, said Banks was the one who was being erratic and threatened Crowe with violence before he picked her up in a bear hug and escorted her out of the suite.
Sarah Palin The rapper went off on the former vice presidential candidate after misunderstanding an article she read where Palin was quoted as saying that black people willfully accepted slavery. It resulted in the rapper going on a social media tirade where she suggested, “Let’s find the biggest burliest black negroes and let them run a train on her.” Banks later went on to apologize to Palin for any emotional distress she may have caused.
Kendrick Lamar Azealia criticized the "To Pimp a Butterfly" artist for his comments regarding the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Lamar essentially told Billboard that if black people don't respect themselves how can they expect others to have respect for them which didn't make Banks happy at all. "HOW DARE YOU open ur face to a white publication and tell them that we don't respect ourselves.... Speak for your f---ing self," tweeted Banks amongst other things.
Lady Gaga Azealia came for Lady Gaga when the latter decided to dress up like a mermaid -- because that was the rapper's "thing." Although Azealia tweeted that she wasn't trying to pick a fight, her messages suggested that Gaga was stealing her style. About a month later, Banks accused Gaga of stealing "Red Flame," which she claims the latter got from a demo she had sent her.
Flight Attendant Banks was attempting to disembark the plane by pushing past a couple, but the man put his hand, the witness said, at which point Banks flipped out, spitting in his face and punching him. A flight attendant attempted to calm her down, but she called hurled a homophobic slur at him.
Rita Ora This feud started because, once again, Banks thought someone was stealing her style. Rita Ora posted a photo of herself in jelly shoes to which Azealia retaliated by saying she already did the whole jelly shoes thing "last year." Banks also accused the singer of being "thirsty" and called her "Rihanna's understudy."
Kreayshawn Fellow rapper Kreayshawn retweeted a Pornhub link that included Banks' lyrics from "212." Azealia thought Kreayshawn was trying to insult her and retaliated by calling the rapper a "dumb b----" and a "s---." Banks later apologized.
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A$AP Rocky In an interview with The Coveteur, A$AP Rocky stated that he didn't understand why girls wore purple lipstick and that it looked stupid. Banks took that as a direct insult as she's known to always wear purple lipstick and tweeted messages that insinuated that Rocky should just come out of the closet already.
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Here are just a few of the singer-songwriter’s many, many, many feuds
Rihanna is the most recent celebrity to get caught in the crosshairs of Azealia Banks' rage, but she is far from the first to fire up the rapper's rage.