Too little, too late from ESPN on Roethlisberger
Posted by Mike Florio on July 21, 2009 4:23 PM ET
ESPN spokesman Mac Nwulu has provided us with a statement from the folks in Bristol regarding their decision not to mention the civil sexual assault suit against Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, which to our knowledge has been ignored by every national ESPN platform.
"At this point, we are not reporting the allegations against Ben Roethlisberger because no criminal complaint has been filed," Nwulu said. "As far as we know, this is a civil lawsuit that Roethlisberger has yet to address publicly."
Actually, Roethlisberger
has addressed the lawsuit publicly, via a Monday night statement from lawyer David Cornwell, who has been retained to represent Roethlisberger.
And let's be realistic about it. If he's smart (and, frankly, the jury is still out on that one), Ben won't ever comment on the case publicly, other than to say, "No comment."
Besides, we don't buy for a minute the notion that a civil claim unaccompanied by a criminal complaint makes the situation not newsworthy. Indeed, ESPN posted last night on its NFL page a blurb from the
AP regarding the
civil suit filed by former NFL kicker Tony Zendejas, in which he claims a violation of his civil rights in connection with, coincidentally, a rape prosecution.
In that case, have the folks who allegedly violated the civil rights of Zendejas been charged criminally? Nope. But that hasn't kept ESPN from posting the
AP item.
And that's the kicker on this one -- ESPN uses stuff from the
AP all the time, and the
AP has issued a story about the lawsuit against Roethlisberger.
So while we appreciate the fact that ESPN provided us with a statement, we choose to regard it as a hollow attempt to explain away what appears to be a strategy for remaining in the good graces of Ben Roethlisberger.
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Roethlisberger cancels press conference
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on July 21, 2009 3:58 PM ET
Ben Roethlisberger's new reality, no matter how the civil suit against him goes, will be changed dramatically for the near future.
Because of that, now is not exactly the best time for Roethlisberger to discuss participating in a frivolous reality show competition.
A previously scheduled press conference scheduled for Thursday including Roethlisberger
has been cancelled, according to Ed Bouchette of the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The presser was set to discuss a reality show called "Shaq vs." starring Shaquille O'Neal. (Shaq takes on elite stars in their own sports.)
There is no word on whether the taping of the show will go off as planned near Pittsburgh or whether Roethlisberger will still be involved.
More details about Roethlisberger's accuser
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on July 21, 2009 2:02 PM ET
Less than 24 hours ago, Andrea McNulty filed a civil sexual assault case against Ben Roethlisberger. It's safe to say curiosity about her is already piqued.
TMZ has
released seven pictures which they report to be of McNulty.
Other sites have alleged links to her ******* page, but they are unconfirmed.
We can confirm McNulty is a Canadian immigrant who had a visa to work at Harrah's Casino in Lake Tahoe.
Our source also told us on Monday the exact same story that
Mr. Florio passed along from TMZ Tuesday morning.
The source alleges that McNulty was involved a
bizarre episode that is unrelated to Roethlisberger. TMZ reports that McNulty received psychiatric care as a result of the incident.
The accusations about McNulty are not exactly surprising.
In fact, they are essentially contained in the civil case that PFT has been able to look at.
McNulty is suing many Harrah's employees for making false and inflammatory statements about her physical and mental health.
McNulty claims in the case that any hospital stay was related to being sexually assaulted.
She also alleges that the defendants/co-workers made inflammatory statements about her "relationship with other men" and accused her of serious sexual misconduct.
She is claiming that she sustained damage to her profession as a direct and indirect result of such statements.
As the story grows, which is inevitable
despite ESPN's efforts, we will surely continue to learn plenty more about McNulty.
From both sides of the case.