Yankees Fan Caught On Camera Sleeping Suing ESPN For Defamation

JULY 7–A fan who was shown sleeping during an ESPN broadcast of a recent New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox game is suing the TV network and two of its announcers for allegedly disparaging him during the telecast, according to a lawsuit seeking $10 million in damages. Andrew Rector, 26, nodded off during the fourth inning of an April 13 contest at Yankee Stadium, and was shown on TV with his head slumped to the side as he snoozed in his second-row seat in the ballpark’s lower level. ESPN announcer Dan Shulman referred to the sleeping fan as “oblivious,” while John Kruk, the network’s color commentator, noted that the ballpark was “not the place you come to sleep.” Shulman also wondered whether the fan had slept through a third inning home run by Yankee Carlos Beltran (which, Shulman said, prompted the crowd of 45,000 to “stand up and cheer”). In his complaint, which was filed this month in State Supreme Court in the Bronx, Rector contends that he was subjected to an “unending verbal crusade” by the ESPN announcers. The comments caused Rector, seen at right, emotional distress, according to the July 3 lawsuit. Rector’s lawsuit, which was first reported by Courthouse News Service, also names the Yankees and Major League Baseball as defendants. MLB is being sued for including video of Rector snoozing as part of the Sunday night game’s highlights package uploaded to mlb.com. The video apparently prompted viewers to post comments mocking Rector for falling asleep during the game. Strangely, the lawsuit attributes these online putdowns to Shulman and Kruk. The announcers, the complaint alleges, used words like “stupor, fatty, unintelligent, stupid” to disparage Rector, who works for a Bronx-based auto leasing firm. Rector, who did not return a TSG message left at his office, alleges that he was defamed by comments portraying him as a “fatty cow that needs two seats,” and a “confused disgusted and socially bankrupt individual.”

Remember Sleeping Beauty? It was back in April – Master’s Sunday, rather fittingly – that this dude decided to take a little cat nap in the middle of the 4th inning of a fucking Red Sox-Yankees game. Well now he’s fed up with the “unending verbal crusade” and suing ESPN all because he’s a fat tired dude. Whats funny is A) The thought that this is “unending” is an absolute joke. It ended about 2 hours after it ever started. Like by the 9th inning of that game I don’t think anybody remembered that this dude was on camera sleeping. Not like he went super viral or became a meme or something. Nobody even remembered this until now.

And secondly this “verbal crusade” has nothing to do with ESPN. Kruk and his partner said he was oblivious and they wondered if he slept through Beltran’s home run. Thats it. All the comments about being a socially bankrupt fatty cow is just mean shit people randomly said about him on the internet. But last time I checked you don’t get to be a complete slob in public and then sue people when someone calls you out on it. People are mean on the internet. People make fun of you. Don’t wanna get made fun of? Don’t be fat and sleepy in public. Pretty simple stuff. Either get your shit together when out at a sporting event or be prepared to get made fun of. And most certainly don’t file a fugazi lawsuit that brings this all back into the spotlight and lets people call you a fatty cow again. You brought this on yourself not once, but twice.

PS – “Confused, disgusted and socially bankrupt individual” is such a tremendous insult. Socially bankrupt is so fucking perfect. God I hate Yankees fans.