Harold Reynolds lawsuit

cubfanindy · Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 3:10 pm Post subject: Harold Reynolds lawsuit

Remember back in July when Harold Reynolds was fired from ESPN? At the time, we all wondered why. ESPN said absolutely nothing about it, which was odd, since Harold Reynolds is a pretty good analyst who had been doing Baseball Tonight for years at that point. We gradually started hearing whispers of sexual harassment, and that it had happened before. Eventually, various media outlets reported that he was indeed fired for violating their policy on sexual harassment.

Well, now we’re finally hearing more! Harold Reynolds has filed a lawsuit against ESPN claiming breach of contract and wrongful termination! In August, Reynolds did an interview with Charley Steiner, in which Reynolds told Steiner that ESPN had “leaked lies” concerning the harassment charges. He also told Steiner that ESPN never gave him a reason for the dismissal. I find this a bit odd. If you are fired, would you not ask “why?” If you are under contract, would your employer not have to give you a reason why in order to end that contract? I don’t think that statement helps his credibility, as it’s kind of hard to believe. Reynold’s lawsuit says that he gave a female intern, who he had just met that day, a “brief innocuous hug.” His suit goes on to state that the intern never expressed any discomfort, and he has never seen her since then. Odd.

Sexual harassment is always a touchy subject. For one thing, how do you convey intention? Also, what you deem appropriate might not be viewed that way by someone else. We do not have the right to dictate to others what they should and shouldn’t be offended by, or what should and shouldn’t make them feel uncomfortable. On the other side of things though, we really do need to hear the person accused’s side of the story. Take into consideration that harassment charges can be used as a weapon by a former lover to “get them back,” or by management as a convenient excuse to get rid of someone.

I just want to see the truth come out on this one. I always liked Harold Reynolds, but if he really was sexually harassing interns, then yeah, he had to go. If however, it turns out that it was just a personality conflict with someone higher up at ESPN (which I think may be the case), and this was just used as an excuse, then go Harold.

A shame we had to lose a quality baseball analyst from this mess. There are fewer of them out there than you might think.