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Adler, who has since apologized for how he spoke about
Williams, has maintained that he was describing the
African-American 13th seed's aggressive style of charging as the
"guerilla effect" and not comparing her to a "gorilla."
Adler's lawyer, David Ring, says the comment was a "big nothing"
until it hit Twitter.
"And then somehow on Twitter someone said he called Venus a
gorilla," Ring told Reuters. "ESPN fires him the next day for
something he never even said. Doug Adler lost his career, he
lost his reputation.
"By ESPN firing him he was suddenly the guy fired for making a
racist remark and it never happened."
Adler, who was a former college tennis player before turning to
broadcasting, filed his lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on
Tuesday.
"Adler was wrongly terminated by ESPN after Adler described
Venus Williams as using 'guerilla' tactics, a description that
is commonly used in tennis to describe a form of aggressive
play," the lawsuit states.
"ESPN bowed to pressure from those using social media, including
Twitter, who mistakenly believed Adler used the word 'gorilla'
to describe Venus Williams. ESPN wrongfully terminated Adler and
has since caused other employees to shun Adler, causing Adler
serious financial and emotional harm."
Neither ESPN nor Williams’s agent, Carlos Fleming, were
immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina. Additional
reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento. Editing by Steve
Keating.)
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