Ron Franklin, the sportscaster fired last month by ESPN for remarks he made to a sideline reporter in a hotel lobby before the Chick-fil-A Bowl, filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in a Texas county court Wednesday saying that he could be dismissed only for a “failure to perform” his job.
Franklin does not name the reporter in the lawsuit, although it was Jeannine Edwards. He said that she “continuously interrupted and verbally jabbed” at him while he was having an unrelated work conversation with other people about Texas property taxes.
In what the lawsuit called a “contentious exchange,” Franklin called Edwards “sweetheart” and then something stronger. Franklin was suspended and taken off his next assignment.
Franklin said that his two-year contracts with ESPN and ABC, which run through March 2012, contain a narrow “failure to perform” clause that allows for termination for “inadequate preparation or “lack of punctuality” in his work, insubordination or an “act of moral turpitude.”
In a statement, ESPN said, “We are confident that the action we took was appropriate.”
Franklin was involved in an on-air incident in 2005 when he called Holly Rowe, another sideline reporter, “sweetheart.” At the time, ESPN’s ombudsman called Franklin’s tone “demeaning.”
By RICHARD SANDOMIR