Tennis Announcer Who Was Canned After Controversial Remarks About Venus Williams Is Suing ESPN

A tennis announcer who was fired after making remarks about Venus Williams that ignited controversy is suing his ex-employer, ESPN.

Venus Williams tosses up a serve.
USA Today Sports

Image via USA Today Sports/Martin Richard

Venus Williams tosses up a serve.

Doug Adler, a tennis announcer who got canned by ESPN in January after he was accused of using racist language to describe the playing style of Venus Williams, is attempting to get back at his former employer via a wrongful termination lawsuit. Adler is also suing for emotional distress and other damages.

Adler was axed by The Worldwide Leader following comments he made on January 18 during Williams' win over Stefanie Voegele. Adler said something that sounded to viewers like, "You see Venus move in and put the gorilla effect on, charging." Adler, as he has said since the controversy's inception, contends that he said "guerilla." Kind of hard to tell the difference of those words with your ears, but you can try:

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The day after he said it Adler apologized on air with a statement he said ESPN wrote for him, and attempted to explain that he meant Venus has aggressive guerilla tactics. He says that he was unaware of the controversy it caused until ESPN played the video for him about 24 hours afterwards, and asked if he and his broadcast partner heard anything unusual. They said they did not. He then said they told him that the Twitter world had basically labeled him a "racist."

Adler contests in his lawsuit that ESPN capitulated to social media pressure when they axed him. "ESPN bowed to pressure from those using social media, including Twitter," he said, claiming that his firing led to "other employers to shun [him], causing [him] serious financial and emotional harm.”

"The irony is that Adler called everything correctly and in a professional manner, whereas ESPN did not—they recklessly made the wrong call," his attorney added. "It was not only political correctness gone overboard, but also a cowardly move that ruined a good man’s career."

ESPN hired Adler, an ex-pro, to their network in 2008.

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