Current WWE RAW announcer Jonathan Coachman is one of several people named in a sexual harassment lawsuit against ESPN by a former employee.
According to the lawsuit (h/t to Deadspin), Coachman was named by former ESPN employee Adrienne Lawrence in the following passage:
1. Men Preyed on Ms. Lawrence Under the Guise of Being Collegial or Providing Mentorship
125. On or around January 18, 2016, SportsCenter anchor Jonathan Coachman (“Coachman”) emailed Ms. Lawrence offering to provide her with mentorship and providing his cellphone number. When he contacted her via text, he quickly turned a professional conversation into a personal matter, asking her about her musical interests. He was employing the ESPN predators’ playbook. See supra at ¶ 84. Colleagues then cautioned Ms. Lawrence that Coachman was notorious for sexually harassing female employees. After learning that, Ms. Lawrence made an effort to communicate to Coachman that she had a boyfriend, after which she did not hear from him again and he made no offers of mentorship.
126. Coachman’s reputation for making unwelcome sexual advances toward women and engaging in other sexually harassing behavior was not a secret. Cary Chow had warned Ms. Lawrence about him when he gave the short list of men at ESPN who were notorious for sexual harassment. Coachman had sent Walsh inappropriate photos of himself and text messages, falsely telling her colleagues that they were romantically involved and that she “wanted” him, another common practice of men at ESPN. See supra at ¶ 13. At least one young production assistantwho joined ESPN just out of college had complained to Ms. Lawrence about Coachman making her feel uncomfortable by complimenting her physical appearance and making passes at her.
Lawrence alleges ESPN and its employees create a culture where male colleagues ‘groom’ women they want to pursue sexual relationships with. Lawrence had previously accused ESPN anchor John Buccigross, who is also named in the suit, of sexual harassment and the Boston Globe had previously published text messages between the two, allegedly proving her claims. Her suit, which does not name Coachman as a Defendant, alleges she was not offered a full-time position at ESPN after speaking out against Buccigross.
You can view the entire lawsuit here; ESPN issued the following statement regarding the lawsuit to Deadspin:
“We conducted a thorough investigation of the claims Adrienne Lawrence surfaced to ESPN and they are entirely without merit. Ms. Lawrence was hired into a two-year talent development program and was told that her contract would not be renewed at the conclusion of the training program. At that same time, ESPN also told 100 other talent with substantially more experience, that their contracts would not be renewed. The company will vigorously defend its position and we are confident we will prevail in court.”
