Michael Irvin Pulled From Super Bowl Week Appearances By NFL Network After A Woman’s Complaint
Photo by Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images
NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin was pulled from the network’s airwaves on Wednesday morning after a woman complained about an alleged interaction with him on Sunday.
The NFL Media’s Vice President of Communications, Alex Riethmiller, announced that Irvin will not participate in any of the NFL Network’s coverage of the Super Bowl in Arizona.
Riethmiller’s statement read: “Michael Irvin will not be a part of NFL Network’s Super Bowl LVII week coverage.”
On Wednesday morning, Irvin was interviewed by the Dallas Morning News by phone about the alleged incident from Sunday night in Glendale, Arizona. He told the newspaper that he returned to his hotel after dinner and conversed with a woman in the lobby.
“Honestly, I’m a bit baffled with it all,” Irvin said in the interview. “This all happened in a 45-second conversation in the lobby. When I got back after going out… I came into the lobby and I talked to somebody. I talked to this girl. I don’t know her, and I talked to her for about 45 seconds.”
“We shook hands. Then I left… That’s all I know,” he said.
Irvin explained that the conversation between the two was almost a minute long, and their only physical contact was a handshake.
“I don’t really recall that conversation, to tell you the truth,” Irvin said. “We were out drinking. It was just a friendly conversation, ‘what’s up?’ I don’t even know… I am totally perplexed.”
Irvin said he hasn’t seen footage from the hotel lobby showing conversation with the woman, and added that he doesn’t know her name.
On Monday night, the Hall of Fame wide receiver covered the Super Bowl Opening Night for NFL Network, and officials from NFL Media approached him after he went off the air.
“What law did I break?” Irvin said. “There was definitely nothing physical… That’s honestly all that happened. Nobody was in my room. It was a 45-second conversation in the lobby, a handshake, and we left… I don’t know. I don’t know what this is, and it’s running me crazy.”
Irvin also frequently appears on ESPN’s First Take, and he is scheduled to appear on Friday’s show from Arizona. ESPN declined to comment when The News reached out on Wednesday morning.
