DALLAS — Michael Irvin released a surveillance video Tuesday that captures a Feb. 5 conversation between the former Cowboys wide receiver and a female hotel staffer in Phoenix, footage that Irvin and his attorney hope can help restore his public image during an ongoing $100 million lawsuit against Marriott.
The conversation, which lasted about one minute and 45 seconds at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown hotel, was played for reporters during a news conference Tuesday held inside an Oak Lawn office building. The Dallas Morning News obtained a digital copy of the encounter. No audio is included, so it cannot be determined what exactly was said.
According to a Marriott court filing last Friday, she accuses Irvin of making a lewd comment, touching her arm without consent, and saying that he would find her later in her work week. Specifically, per Marriott, a drunken Irvin allegedly asked if she knew anything about having a “big Black man inside of [her].”
“I don’t speak like that,” Irvin said Tuesday. “I’ve never spoken like that. I totally deny saying that. I totally deny saying that.”
Irvin also rebuffed the notion he posed a danger to the woman because of fear he’d find her later in the week. Irvin was forced to change hotels the next evening; Marriott said in its filing it was the NFL who determined, upon interviewing the woman and reviewing the video, Irvin should no longer stay at the property.
Irvin’s appearances on NFL Network and ESPN during Super Bowl week were canceled.
“Like I’m going to hunt her down, kidnap somebody, kill somebody?” Irvin said before the video was shown. “Come on. Here’s the truth. We used to say when we played football, ‘The eye in the sky don’t tell no lies.’ It’s just the truth. We talk and tell lies. But the eye in the sky don’t tell no lies.”
Even with the video, much about the encounter leaves room for interpretation.
Last Friday, Marriott offered an account in which Irvin flagged down the female employee and initiated the conversation. On Tuesday, Irvin’s lead attorney Levi McCathern said the staffer was the person who initiated, her walking path making “no sense if she is not trying to intercept” Irvin.
In the video, upon Irvin’s return from outdoors where he took photographs with three men, she walks toward Irvin and turns left away from him. At this moment, she enters an area where a pole-like structure obstructs the camera’s view. Irvin careens his walking path toward her as she walks by, seemingly supporting the Marriott account. But without audio, it is difficult to form a conclusion on who began the conversation.
Physical contact between Irvin and the woman appears light — there was no shoving or anything that would seem to warrant a criminal charge. Indeed, no criminal charges have been filed against Irvin in relation to this incident. Touch between Irvin and the woman is limited to two handshakes and Irvin twice reaching out to touch her arm or hand.
Based on the video, he appears to initiate the aforementioned physical contact.
At one point, 2 minutes and 9 seconds into the obtained video, Irvin takes a short step forward with his right foot and touches her left arm while making a comment. She takes a step back, first with her left foot and then right foot. She raises her hands in front of her chest and creates a gesture in which her hands fan apart from each other. Irvin laughs and, while falling away from her, briefly touches her right hand or lower right arm with his right hand.
The woman slides her right arm away from Irvin, rocks backward and clasps her hands together behind her back. She then returns her hands to the front of her chest and repeats the gesture in which her hands fan apart.
This entire sequence, beginning with Irvin’s short step forward, lasts 11 seconds. It appears to be the moment the woman alleges Irvin made the lewd comment and followed it up by grabbing her hand, saying he was “sorry if he brought up bad memories” for her, according to Marriott’s filing last week. The filing also detailed the woman stepping back following the lewd statement.
Before the video was shown Tuesday, Irvin and his legal team highlighted 20 bullet points included in an information packet distributed to reporters. Video timestamps show the conversation began one second before 11:12 p.m. on Feb. 5. The woman, according to Irvin’s lawyers, gave a handwritten statement in which she lists the time of incident as 12:15 a.m. on Feb. 5.
Irvin’s legal team also focused on her male coworkers.
One appears agitated, clapping his hands when he sees Irvin and the woman begin speaking. He briefly walks toward them, stops and places his hands on his hips. He appears to say something to a second male coworker, who then walks behind Irvin and the woman as though monitoring their conversation. The two coworkers loom uncomfortably at their respective positions before walking away. They reconvene and briefly talk between themselves in the bar area.
Irvin extends his right arm to shake hands with the woman. She completes the hand shake.
Seconds later, a third male coworker walks toward Irvin and the woman, and they take notice of him. The second male coworker joins the third, as the female staffer kicks her left leg and motions her left arm toward them. She walks away from Irvin, who briefly watches her as she does. He speaks to the second and third male coworker, briefly delivering slaps to his own face.
Marriott shared its account of this sequence last week.
“During this interaction, two other Hotel employees noticed that the Victim had a look of concern on her face and began moving toward Irvin and the Victim, prompting Irvin to state that ‘security’ had noticed him and extend his hand for another handshake,” Marriott said. “Seeing that other Hotel employees were in the area and wanting the interaction to end, the Victim returned Irvin’s handshake. Irvin then stated that he would come back to find her sometime that week when she was working.
“The Victim then left the interaction to assist another employee who was waiting for her in the Dust Cutter with Irvin leering at her as she walked away.
The first male coworker, seen clapping when Irvin and the woman’s conversation began, is not mentioned in Marriott’s account. When her conversation with Irvin concludes, the coworker approaches the female staffer in the bar area, where he’d been waiting for her, and appears to instruct her to follow him. They walk out of the bar, away from patrons and Irvin.
On Tuesday, McCathern highlighted that male individual, who is wearing a vest.
“I think this person is very, very important to this case,” McCathern said. “He is clearly in the back, talking to the (woman) before she comes out, and he comes around and posts up and watches her go up to talk to Michael. When he sees her with Michael, he does a weird movement. He does this: He’s going to bend over and clap his hands three times. You could draw your own conclusion. I think it shows he was either happy or he was upset that she was talking to Michael.
“He lingers at the bar, leering at the complaining employee throughout much of her conversation with Michael. You’ll see him. He’s very angry. ...She seemed to be in a very good mood until this man in the vest, you’ll see, he comes up to her and grabs her. And he’s very aggressive, and he just starts ripping her. He makes her walk out with him, and ...he’s obviously agitated and being very visibly upset with her.”
Irvin is suing Marriott for defamation and tortious interference in a business relationship. On Monday, McCathern pulled the $100 million lawsuit Monday from a federal court in Texas, refiling the lawsuit in an Arizona state court in Maricopa County.
Marriott and Jane Doe are still listed as defendants in the new lawsuit.
Renaissance Hotel Operating Company and three Renaissance employees were added to the defendant list.
At the video’s conclusion, after the first male coworker walks from the bar with the female staffer, the other two male coworkers speak with Irvin. One walks with Irvin toward the hotel entrance and takes a selfie photograph with Irvin. He then directs Irvin to the lobby elevator, where Irvin and Marriott agree that Irvin retired alone for the evening.
Last Friday, Irvin and his legal team obtained a physical copy of the video for the first time.
U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant chided Marriott for the delay in producing the video. As recourse, Irvin not only received a nonmodified version of the footage, without the woman’s face being blurred, but he also was allowed to release the video to the public. At least one other video, showing Irvin speaking with bar patrons, was expected to be released to Irvin on Tuesday. Marriott said in court these was a delay because of the video’s size.
Irvin expressed gratitude Tuesday to have surveillance footage of his encounter with the woman.
“I’m so thankful for this video,” he said, “because without it, I don’t know where this would have gone.”
