The video of Michael Irwin and his sexual misconduct charges were finally dropped on Tuesday … and the footage shows the former NFL star had a rather lengthy conversation with the woman – touching her twice on the elbow – before leaving.
Irvin’s lawyer, Levi McCathernshared a copy of the Marriott vid at a news conference with reporters … after getting the cut after a weeklong legal battle with the hotel chain over it.
Michael Irvin files scathing lawsuit over abuse allegations, seeks $100 million
In the video, which was shot at the establishment in Phoenix, Arizona on February 5, you can see Irvin and the hotel employee start talking right at the entrance to the bar area, shaking hands – before moving a few feet away into the lobby .
Irvin and the woman can be seen on the footage chatting for over a minute. Twice during their interaction, Irvin touches the woman’s elbow. Shortly after, the two shake hands, and then the woman walks away. The whole interaction seemed unremarkable.
Irvin can then be seen in the video appearing to slap himself on the cheek three times. He then goes over to take a selfie with a man who McCathern believes is an employee of the hotel. After the shot, Irvin walks out of the camera’s view.
In court documents filed last week, Marriott claims the woman said that during the conversation with Irvin, the former football player asked her “if she knew anything about having a ‘big black man inside (her).'”
After the video was shown, Irvin denied making such a comment – saying: “I don’t talk like that. I never talked like that. I absolutely refuse to say that.”
He added that their conversation was simply about football and the TV shows he is on.
“We used to say in football, ‘the eye in the sky doesn’t lie’,” he said. “It’s just the truth.”
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McCathern, meanwhile, said he believes the video shows Irvin’s accuser was “happy as a lark” during their conversation. He speculated that another employee in the area may have been upset with her for communicating with Irvin while he was on the job.
“There’s no question from watching this, this woman is not offended,” McCathern said. “This is not sexual assault. This is not sexual harassment. This is not sexual misconduct.”
McCathern refiled its $100 million lawsuit against Marriott and others involved in the charges against Irvin in Arizona Tuesday morning … after he said he wanted to make sure he was suing “the right people.”
The case is still ongoing.
