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[STK]
[IN] TVN SPT
[SU] AVO REL NPT LAW
-- WITH PHOTO -- TO LEGAL AFFAIRS, NATIONAL, AND RELIGION EDITORS:
Liberty Institute: Fox Sports Now Claims It Lied To Media About Craig
James' Firing
DALLAS, Feb. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Liberty
Institute on behalf of well-known college football analyst Craig James
filed a complaint with the Texas Workforce Commission alleging
religious discrimination against his former employer Fox Sports, whose
national spokesperson told the Dallas Morning News that James was
terminated because of his religious beliefs about same-sex
marriage. During a sworn deposition in January, Eric Shanks, President
of Fox Sports, stated that the Senior Vice-President for
Communications and Spokesperson for Fox Sports Lou D'Ermilio made
false statements to the press. Eric Shanks also stated he did not
know why Mr. D'Ermilio made the false statement and that there has
been no investigation to determine why Mr. D'Ermilio made the
statements.
To view an online copy of the complaint filed against Fox Sports with
the Texas Workforce Commission, follow this link:
http://www.libertyinstitute.org/document.doc?id=130
"Fox Sports' firing of Craig James because of his sincerely held
religious beliefs concerning marriage, beliefs held by millions of
Americans, constitutes religious discrimination that violates the law.
In order to avoid that claim, Fox executives now contend what their
national spokesperson said to the media at the time of the firing was
false. Someone's not telling the truth. This action will get to the
bottom of those contentions. Regardless, Fox Sports is responsible,"
said Jeff Mateer, Liberty Institute General Counsel.
In the complaint, James accuses Fox Sports of religious employment
discrimination based in part on Fox's report to the media that he was
terminated for comments made about his support for the biblical view
of marriage while running for the U.S. Senate in 2012. Fox told The
Dallas Morning News: "We just asked ourselves how Craig's statements
[from the earlier Senate race about same-sex marriage] would play in
our human resources department. He couldn't say those things here."
Hiram Sasser, Liberty Institute's Managing Director of Strategic
Litigation added: "It looks like Fox Sports is trying to run so fast
from an employment claim capped at $300,000 that they are driving off
the cliff into defamation and other common law claims that are
limitless and may cost Fox Sports millions."
About Liberty Institute Liberty Institute is a nonprofit legal group
dedicated to restoring and defending religious liberty across America
- in our schools, for our churches, in the military and throughout the
public arena. Liberty Institute's vision is to reestablish liberty in
accordance with the principles of our nation's founders. Visit
www.LibertyInstitute.org for more information.
Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120523/DC12743LOGO-b
SOURCE Liberty Institute
-0- 02/25/2014
/CONTACT: Gregg Wooding, Cell: 214.558.9455, Office 972.941.4453, gwooding@libertyinstitute.org
/Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120523/DC12743LOGO-b
/Web Site: http://www.libertyinstitute.org
CO: Liberty Institute
ST: Texas
IN: TVN SPT
SU: AVO REL NPT LAW
PRN
-- DC72136 --
0000 02/25/2014 23:18:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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