Adrienne Lawrence is reportedly filing a sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit against the ESPN for incidents dating back to 2015.
Lawrence is accusing the company of not addressing her complaints, specifically against host John Buccigross. Lawrence’s allegations first became public in a December Boston Globe story, in which she claimed Buccigross called her “dollface,” “#dreamgirl,” and “#longlegs” in text messages sent in 2016 along with unrequested shirtless photos.
“I considered Adrienne to be a friend,” Buccigross said in a December statement to the Globe. “I’m sorry if anything I did or said offended Adrienne. It certainly wasn’t my intent.”
According to Adrienne Lawrence, male executives and employees at ESPN kept “scoreboards” naming female colleagues they wanted to have sex with and openly watched pornography on their computers. “ESPN is, and always has been, a company rife with misogyny," states the sexual harassment complaint filed.
Lawrence says women at the network are “humiliated, degraded, and forced to navigate a misogynistic and predatory culture.” “It was an open secret at ESPN that certain female on-air talent provided sexual favors to management in exchange for on-air opportunities,” the suit states. “Women at ESPN are to be objects accessible to their male counterparts without objection.”
In one example, the suit states that news anchor Chris Berman left a “threatening and racially disparaging voicemail” for commentator Jamele Hill. According to the suit, nothing was done to discipline Berman.
Hill responded on Twitter on Monday, saying the incident had been misinterpreted. “A few years ago, I had a personal conflict with Chris Berman, but the way this conflict has been characterized is dangerously inaccurate,” Hill wrote. “Chris never left any racially disparaging remarks on my voicemail and our conflict was handled swiftly and with the utmost professionalism… 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.”
