A former ESPN tennis analyst who sued after being fired in 2017 due to his description of Venus Williams’ style of play wants to update his complaint by adding new allegations, as well as two additional employees of the sports network as defendants.
Doug Adler, who’s now represented by the law firm founded by the late Johnnie Cochran, maintains his use of the word “guerrilla” was misinterpreted by some critics, many on social media, who thought he was using the racially offensive term “gorilla” regarding the black tennis star and her performance in the Australian Open.
“Guerrilla Tennis” was the name of a Nike TV commercial in the 1990s featuring Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. Although tennis experts commonly use the term “guerrilla tennis” to describe aggressive tactics, ESPN “bowed to the Twitter universe of haters and those ignorant of tennis who thought (Adler) used the word gorilla to describe Venus Williams that day,” Adler alleged in his original Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit.
The original suit also alleged that other employers shunned Adler following ESPN’s firing of him shortly after the Jan. 18, 2017, Williams match. Filed in February 2017, the complaint alleged wrongful termination, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
ESPN Senior Vice President Mark Gross and the network’s vice president, Jamie Reynolds, were also named as defendants.
In December, Adler hired attorney James A. Bryant of the Cochran Firm as his new lead counsel. In his court papers, Bryant said his review of the case “supported legal theories that were not pleaded in the (original) complaint.”
The proposed amended complaint would add causes of action for defamation and both fraudulent and negligent representation. Bryant also wants to add as defendants Don Colantino, an ESPN senior director, and Mike Soltys, ESPN’s vice president of corporate communications.
The proposed amended complaint alleges Soltys defamed Adler by issuing a statement that ESPN removed the plaintiff for making an inappropriate comment “that was viewed negatively by everyone but Adler.”
The “viewed negatively by everyone by Adler” portion of the statement was false and “perpetuated the false narrative that (Adler) made a racist comment,” according to the proposed amended complaint.
ESPN attorneys say in their court papers that Adler “issued an apology on Jan. 19 saying he was speaking about Ms. Williams’ tactics and strategy and that he chose the wrong word to describe her play.”
The network “concluded that he should have been more careful in his word selection and (ESPN) exercised the right remove him from providing announcer services for the remaining three days of ESPN’s coverage of the Australian Open,” according to ESPN’s court papers.
But according to the proposed amended complaint, Adler agreed to apologize on air in reliance upon Colantino’s promise he would remain employed by the network. Colantino wrote the apology Adler read to viewers, the amended complaint states.
After giving the apology, Adler says he was removed from the broadcast booth and prevented from calling the match he was scheduled to work. The next day, Adler was asked to leave the premises and Colantino told him ” that his services had been permanently terminated,” the proposed amended complaint states.
“Plaintiff ultimately fell into deep depression and suffered from a massive heart attack,” the proposed amended complaint states.
A hearing on Adler’s bid to amend his suit is scheduled for June 6.
Adler lives in Los Angeles and was an All-American player at USC. He was hired by ESPN in 2008 and covered the U.S. Open, French Open and Wimbledon. He alleges the network ruined his sterling reputation cultivated over 40 years, during which he announced some 3,000 matches.