An ex-ESPN executive says he’s being slandered by a former colleague who’s spreading a “flat-out lie” that he fondled himself on an airplane while sitting next to sports reporter Erin Andrews.
In a defamation lawsuit filed Wednesday, Keith Clinkscales claims he’s the target of a smear campaign orchestrated by a female employee he fired.
Clinkscales, who is black, claims Joan Lynch, who is white, lied about him to fellow colleagues because he was promoted over her to senior vice president of content development.
The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan Criminal Court hours before Deadspin.com quoted an anonymous source detailing Clinkscales’ alleged midair incident with Andrews.
The source — referred to by the web site as “Connie” — claimed Andrews caught Clinkscales masturbating under an iPad while sitting next to him on a commercial flight in February. In the suit, Clinkscales charges Lynch is the Deadspin source and that she was driven by “racial animus” to smear Clinkscales.
“It’s shocking behavior and I look forward to her explaining herself in a courtroom,” Clinkscales attorney, Judd Burstein, told the Daily News.
Clinkscales left ESPN earlier this year to start his own production company when the network disbanded its content development group.
Lynch could not be reached for comment. A representative for Andrews did not respond to an email.
ESPN officials declined to comment on the lawsuit.
“With respect to these reports, we want to state very clearly that in accordance with ESPN policies, if a claim is brought to our attention, it is taken very seriously and responded to appropriately,” said ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz.
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