Jeremy Roenick, former NHL player and NBC sports commentator, has lost his case against NBC Sports for wrongful termination when a New York State Federal Judge failed to buy his excuse that he was fired for being a "heterosexual man."
Roenick was suspended in 2019 after making a joke about a threesome with a coworker, violating a "morals clause" of his contract. He was terminated shortly thereafter.
NBC hockey commentator Jeremy Roenick sued NBC for discriminating against him for being a straight male after he was fired for making lewd comments about a female colleague. \n\nHe lost. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/nbc-sports-roenick-lawsuit-1234966105/\u00a0\u2026— chris evans (@chris evans) 1623466093
Roenick was under an employment agreement with NBC & his contract contained a morals clause. He was terminated after making a joke about a threesome with a coworker. Should have complied with the morals clause.pic.twitter.com/oVPVJQhzZZ— KD (@KD) 1623466461
Barstool Sports knuckle dragger involvement, of course. Looks like he is hoping NBC gets tired of fighting this frivolous suit and pays him to go away. Be nice if a judge forces him to pay their legal fees.— Travis McGee (@Travis McGee) 1623466700
The old "boys will be boys" defense.— PupperMumRedux (@PupperMumRedux) 1623518324
Roenick sued several NBC Sports affiliates, including its parent company, Comcast, for what he claimed was "gender and sexual orientation discrimination" because the comment that got him fired involved heterosexual sex.
NBC Sports and Comcast immediately moved to dismiss all claims against them, which was granted in part by U.S. District Judge John P. Cronan.
This Mfkr used the 'Im a straight white male I'm supposed to be lewd rude crass and just an all out gross human being' as his defense\n\nhttps://twitter.com/chris_notcapn/status/1403544638607310850\u00a0\u2026— Raven Valkyrie (@Raven Valkyrie) 1623501682
Much to unpack here.\n1) Despicable to think that a lawsuit is how u respond to a problem caused by one's inappropriate behavior.\n2) Failing to take responsibility 4 one's own immature & inappropriate behavior.\n3. One has t/b delusion & shameless to claim discrimination a/t causehttps://twitter.com/chris_notcapn/status/1403544638607310850\u00a0\u2026— Ramey (@Ramey) 1623481193
I love this, it says so much about cishet menhttps://twitter.com/chris_notcapn/status/1403544638607310850\u00a0\u2026— Fully-vaxxed Lo (@Fully-vaxxed Lo) 1623470257
I\u2019m glad he lost. But who are these idiots???https://twitter.com/chris_notcapn/status/1403544638607310850\u00a0\u2026— Mommie Michael \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 \ud83c\udd98 (@Mommie Michael \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 \ud83c\udd98) 1623469683
https://twitter.com/chris_notcapn/status/1403544638607310850\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/gc0Lo4VmSI— \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf41Chris\ud83c\udf41\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 \ud83d\udc30\ud83d\udc07\ud83e\udd9c\ud83d\udc25\ud83d\ude37 (@\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf41Chris\ud83c\udf41\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 \ud83d\udc30\ud83d\udc07\ud83e\udd9c\ud83d\udc25\ud83d\ude37) 1623469227
Part of Roenick's preponderance of evidence involved fictional judges played by Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins in conversation with Tara Lipinksi and Johnny Weir that contained sexual humor, but the judge said that there was no "comparable seriousness" between his situation and the staged comedic situation.
"A comparison of the two incidents shows that Roenick's behavior was categorically different. Lipinski and Weir participated in a skit for NBC that included jokes about the term 'camel toe' and an '[o]ffice romance' between 'besties.'"
"Roenick, on the other hand, used his 'free time' outside of his role at NBC to tell the hosts of a Barstool Sports podcast that he 'jokingly implied' to fellow vacationers that he had sex simultaneously with his NBC co-worker, [Kathryn] Tappen, and his wife on multiple occasions."
"Simply put, neither Lipinski nor Weir joked about having sex with a co-worker. Roenick did."
Good. What a creep.https://twitter.com/chris_notcapn/status/1403544638607310850\u00a0\u2026— I expect Justice (@I expect Justice) 1623467554
Man bye.https://twitter.com/chris_notcapn/status/1403544638607310850\u00a0\u2026— slimpickens2916 (@slimpickens2916) 1623466950
This is white I expect.https://twitter.com/chris_notcapn/status/1403544638607310850\u00a0\u2026— Lili D (@Lili D) 1623466636
Some people really love to play the victim. He got fired for a damn reason and he find this bs excuse as if this country isn't mostly run by privilege white straight men, of which a lot are mediocre.https://twitter.com/chris_notcapn/status/1403544638607310850\u00a0\u2026— MB (@MB) 1623466552
I'm too tired to type something clever.... Just read this ishhttps://twitter.com/chris_notcapn/status/1403544638607310850\u00a0\u2026— T'Challa's Other Sister-CRT ISN'T RACIST\ud83d\udc9c\ud83d\udc9a\ud83d\udc9b (@T'Challa's Other Sister-CRT ISN'T RACIST\ud83d\udc9c\ud83d\udc9a\ud83d\udc9b) 1623466425
Several parts of Roenick's lawsuit still stand, but none of them hinge on discrimination against straight people.
