HARTFORD, CT — ESPN reporter Erin Andrews is probably wishing she’d gotten a job with just about any other sports media outlet. Of course, she’s also probably wishing that The New York Post would run out of venture capital, close its doors, bring down its website, and become a thing of the past. Alas for Andrews, each of these media machines has taken advantage of her and is busy claiming that the other is sleazier. At issue is the publication of several photos of Andrews that were taken when she was videotaped without her knowledge while was naked in a hotel room.
The New York Post, hardly one of the most respected news sources in America, decided to run three stills from the video, which made its way onto the internet. It justified its behavior by accusing ESPN of having outed the reporter.
For its money – or love of money – ESPN has banned all Post reporters from appearing on any ESPN programs.
That’ll show ‘em.
According to the Post’s popular “Page 6” gossip column, “No one would have known that a sick voyeur had secretly videotapes ESPN reporter Erin Andrews nude in her hotel room, if the Mickey Mouse sports network hadn’t sent a letter to an obscure Web site demanding that it take down its link to a fuzzy video of an unidentified blonde.”
The dismissive comment sat poorly with ESPN executive director John Walsh, who stated during former company employee Dan Patrick’s syndicated radio show that “We felt if we were the parents of the victim of this crime and we saw the words ‘New York Post’ on our air, that we wouldn’t be doing justice to the person that we know is our colleague.”
The Associated Press reports that 31-year-old Andrews, who was popular online before the video began its rounds, plans to seek criminal and civil charges against whoever shot and posted the video footage, as well as anyone who published excerpts from it.
Attorney Marshall Grossman told the AP that Andrews went public about the situation “to put an end to rumor and speculation and to put the perpetrator and those who are complicit on notice that they act at their peril.”
Since the matter became public knowledge, Andrews, a former University of Florida dance team member known as “Erin Pageviews” online due to her ability to generate traffic, has complained of paparazzi hounding her outside her home. In a 911 call concerning two people parked outside of her gated community home, she complained that “I did nothing wrong and I am being treated like fucking Britney Spears and it sucks!”
The Post is only one of several television networks and newspapers that aired or published stills from the illicit video.
