In April, ESPN cameras caught a sleepy baseball fan sawing logs during the fourth inning of Yankees vs. Red Sox. The clip made low-level ripples in social media at the time, but—unlike most casualties of the Internet—"Sleeping Yankees Fan" has new life. On Monday, Andrew Rector filed a $10M lawsuit against Major League Baseball Advanced Media, ESPN New York, the New York Yankees and others, claiming defamation and emotional distress from April's broadcast.
According to the complaint, Rector was the subject of a vicious tirade by announcers Dan Shulman and John Kruk, which attacked his weight and worth as a Yankees fan. In the clip below, Shulman and Kruk can be heard having a little bit of fun at Rector's expense. But, if this kind of gentle mocking is worth $10M, then, please, someone clown me during a primetime broadcast.
[via The Washington Post]