Michael Irvin says hotel video proves his innocence: ‘The eye in the sky don’t lie’

Former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin continued his fight against accusations of sexual misconduct by releasing a hotel video of the alleged Feb. 5 incident from the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown and by announcing he has refiled a $100 million defamation suit in Arizona state court.

The suit had originally been filed in federal court in Texas.

The moves come just over a month after Irvin first filed the suit in response to allegations that he sexually harassed a female employee of the hotel and days after Marriott detailed the employee’s accusations in a court filing on Friday.

The document described an intoxicated Irvin making lewd comments and being aggressively flirtatious.

Irvin and his attorney Levi McCathern say the video proves Irvin’s innocence.

“This is ridiculous,” McCathern said. “This was an overreaction. This is cancel culture. That is where we are. This woman was not offended. This was not sexual assault. This was not sexual harassment. This was not sexual misconduct.”

Irvin used a football term for his take on the video: “The eye in the sky don’t lie.”

Regarding Marriott’s claims of lewd conversation and aggressive flirtations, Irvin said, “I imagine they are saying things to help their case.”

“I don’t speak like that,” Irvin said. “I have never spoken like that. I totally deny saying that.”

The video does not include audio of what was said.

When the Feb. 5 incident was reported to hotel management, Irvin was removed from the property. He was also removed from Super Bowl coverage by the NFL Network and ESPN. Neither has put him back on air.

Irvin denied doing anything improper and filed the $100 million defamation suit against Marriott.

His request for video of the incident was granted on Friday after U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant lambasted Marriott for not releasing the video earlier.

McCathern said they moved the suit to Arizona because they now know who is involved in the case.

In addition to Marriott International, also named in the suit are Renaissance Hotel Operating Company, Renaissance General Manager Tracy Stoltz, Renaissance Director of Restaurant Operations Diaeldin Waziry, Renaissance Director of Sales and Marketing Lee Ann Vinciguerra, and the unidentified employee, who is referred to in the suit as Jane Doe.

According to Marriott, Irvin flagged the employee down, introduced himself and asked what she did for work before upping the aggression and making the employee uncomfortable.

“Irvin also reached out and touched the Victim’s arm during this conversation without her consent, causing her to step back, becoming visibly uncomfortable,” Marriott attorney Nathan Chapman wrote in the document. “Irvin then asked the Victim whether she knew anything about having a ‘big Black man inside of [her].’ Taken aback by Irvin’s comments, the Victim responded that his comments were inappropriate, and she did not wish to discuss it further.

“Irvin then attempted to grab the Victim’s hand again and said he was ‘sorry if he brought up bad memories’ for her,” the document states. “The Victim pulled her hand away and tried to back away from Irvin as he continued to move towards her.”

Upon noticing other employees watching them, Irvin offered a good-bye handshake, according to Marriott.

“Seeing that other Hotel employees were in the area and wanting the interaction to end, the Victim returned Irvin’s handshake,” Marriott said in the filing. “Irvin then stated that he would come back to find her sometime that week when she was working.”

The Marriott court filing also included a description of Irvin “leering” at the woman as she walked away.

A second employee approached Irvin and allegedly heard him say, “She bad, She bad, I want to hit that.” Irvin then allegedly slapped himself in the face three times before saying, “Keep it together, Mike,” according to Marriott.

The female staffer reported Irvin’s comments to her manager the next day.

Marriott then reported the incident to the NFL, which had asked the hotel to notify the league should any issues arise involving any employees booked at the property.

Irvin again denied all claims by Marriott in the interaction. “Yeah, I mean, I’ve never spoken like that,” he said. “So I totally deny saying that.”

And McCathern broke down the video frame by frame and said it didn’t show what was being alleged against Irvin.

They also pointed to the hotel employee being watched by a manager as soon as she interacted with Irvin.

In the video shown by McCathern, Irvin is outside taking pictures with three witnesses he plans to call to testify on his behalf.

As Irvin enters the hotel, the employee walks around the lobby bar and approaches him, according to the video. That’s when the conversation between her and Irvin starts.

The interaction on the video lasts 1 minute, 49 seconds. McCathern says the witnesses didn’t write down the details of the incident until late afternoon on Feb. 6.

He also said there are inconsistencies in the time the employee listed on the incident.

McCathern pointed to the video and said Irvin was “more grabby and touchy feely” with the gentleman outside than he is ever was with the employee. He said that the video shows the manager is clearly talking to the employee before she approaches Irvin.

The manager watched the employee’s entire conversation with Irvin, McCathern said.

When the interaction with Irvin ends, the manager immediately grabs her and they leave together, per McCathern.

A security guard lingers and another employee appears to take a picture with Irvin before showing him where the elevators are.

McCathern said the body language of the complaining employee shows nothing untoward. He says the manager was the one being “forward to her, not Michael.”

“Is it possible the manager was upset at her for talking to Michael because he’s a celebrity and she shouldn’t?” McCathern asked. “Is it possible the manager was upset because he has some kind of relationship with her we don’t know about? We’ll find all this out in the case. But the one thing that is really clear this is not a sexual assault. This is not sexual harassment. This isn’t sexual misconduct. None of that exists here and I think this tape is very, very clear.”

The video is from just one angle and they want video from other angles, McCathern said.

McCathern and Irvin will have body language experts testify if the case makes it to court.

“I’m thankful for those witnesses, I am thankful for this video,” Irvin said. “Without it I don’t know where this would have gone. This is what they are calling sexual assault?”

“Whether I work again, I don’t know. I don’t know what happened with all of that,” Irvin continued. “But what I had to know was what are we talking about? ‘What are you saying that [I] assaulted somebody, that I attacked somebody? And you won’t let me see it?’ It’s my family. I need to know.”