Doug Adler says ESPN killed him and his reputation by unfairly terminating him.
“They didn't have good cause and I didn't do anything wrong,” Adler told Matt Lauer in an interview with the Today Show that aired today. “They killed me, they made me unemployable. They ended my career, they killed my reputation, my good name. What else was I supposed to do?”
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The veteran commentator is suing ESPN for firing him after a "guerilla effect" comment he made during a Venus Williams match at the Australian Open.
Adler, whose attorney filed the lawsuit against ESPN in Los Angeles Superior Court in February, charges the network bowed to social media pressure in dismissing him.
ESPN “took the easy way out and bowed to the Twitter universe of haters” alleges Adler in his lawsuit.
"I knew I’d been treated badly and unfairly,” Adler told the Southern California News Group writer Ryan Kartje. “When I saw what it was doing to my reputation, I knew I’d have to fight for my name.
“They told me the Twitter world had basically started labeling me as a racist."
ESPN counters Adler was fired because of his poor choice of words and stands by its decision.
"Adler made an inappropriate reference to Venus Williams for which he felt no apology was necessary," ESPN said in a statement issued to the Today Show. "We disagree and stand 100 percent behind our decision to remove him from the 2017 Australian Open.”
Adler asserts former champions, including John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova, would not have been fired for making similar remarks.
"It would not have happened to John McEnroe, it would not have happened to Martina Navratilova," Adler told the Today Show. "They would've put the time, the energy and the resources into defending those people because they did nothing wrong."
Adler came under fire for saying the the seven-time Grand Slam champion "put the guerilla effect on" with her net-rushing style in her 6-3, 6-2, second-round victory over Stefanie Voegele.
Critics took to Twitter with some expressing outrage believing Adler was comparing Williams to a "gorilla."
Adler apologized and clarified he was referring to Venus’ aggressive style as “guerrilla" tactics and not comparing her to a "gorilla."
Adler, a former ATP pro and All American at USC, suffered a heart attack in February, which his doctors reportedly said was partly caused by the stress he suffered from his firing, the New York Daily News reported.
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