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 wa… https://t.co/aak3f7s5ZQ— chris evans (@chris evans) 1623466093.0
@chris_notcapn Roenick was under an employment agreement with NBC & his contract contained a morals clause. He was… https://t.co/BguGyIk5qf— KD (@KD) 1623466461.0
@chris_notcapn Barstool Sports knuckle dragger involvement, of course. Looks like he is hoping NBC gets tired of fi… https://t.co/WM9v2VqdSn— Travis McGee (@Travis McGee) 1623466700.0
@chris_notcapn The old "boys will be boys" defense.— PupperMumRedux (@PupperMumRedux) 1623518324.0
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 bei… https://t.co/E7De74Ahbw— Raven Valkyrie (@Raven Valkyrie) 1623501682.0
Much to unpack here. 1) Despicable to think that a lawsuit is how u respond to a problem caused by one's inappropri… https://t.co/UAxqUyA7UL— Ramey (@Ramey) 1623481193.0
I love this, it says so much about cishet men https://t.co/L4wYxUa709— Fully-vaxxed Lo (@Fully-vaxxed Lo) 1623470257.0
I’m glad he lost. But who are these idiots??? https://t.co/cf3xysOhjz— Mommie Michael 🏳️🌈 🆘 (@Mommie Michael 🏳️🌈 🆘) 1623469683.0
https://t.co/QGDFt6nmXX https://t.co/gc0Lo4VmSI— 🇨🇦🍁Chris🍁🇨🇦 🐰🐇🦜🐥😷 (@🇨🇦🍁Chris🍁🇨🇦 🐰🐇🦜🐥😷) 1623469227.0
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://t.co/5zpgwXJrQE— I expect Justice (@I expect Justice) 1623467554.0
Man bye. https://t.co/humusdjY9h— slimpickens2916 (@slimpickens2916) 1623466950.0
This is white I expect. https://t.co/bEszdIKmK8— Lili D (@Lili D) 1623466636.0
Some people😒 really love to play the victim. He got fired for a damn reason and he find this bs excuse as if this c… https://t.co/kCVzjdlF6N— MB (@MB) 1623466552.0
I'm too tired to type something clever.... Just read this ish https://t.co/EvaOPhFqOq— T'Challa's Other Sister-CRT ISN'T RACIST💜💚💛 (@T'Challa's Other Sister-CRT ISN'T RACIST💜💚💛) 1623466425.0
Several parts of Roenick's lawsuit still stand, but none of them hinge on discrimination against straight people.