New York Jets star Mark Gastineau is suing ESPN, accusing the network of unfairly promoting a video showing his dustup with Green Bay Packers legend Brett Favre at a sports memorabilia show in 2023.
Late last year, a video showing Gastineau angrily confronting Favre went viral and became a big story for ESPN. The video showed Gastineau yelling at Favre and accusing him of taking a dive back in 2002 when New York Giants player Michael Strahan beat Gastineau’s sacking record.
ESPN used the video for a December 13 documentary, but now Gastineau says he’s been “attacked on social media with ridicule, scorn, and contempt” since the sports network aired the video. He also said ESPN “intentionally and maliciously did not publish” the two shaking hands after the confrontation.
In addition, Fox News reported that Gastineau says ESPN did not get his permission to use the video of the confrontation filmed at the sports memorabilia show.
Gastineau now wants $25 million in damages.
The argument started when Strahan beat Gastineau’s sacking record by tackling Favre to earn his 22.5 sack record. But over the years, many have felt that Favre went down awfully easy. Gastineau had a 22-sack record unbroken since 1984 at the time, and obviously he believes that not only did Favre got down too easily, but that he did so to help Strahan beat the record.
WATCH the 2002 sack:
With the 2002 sack in the history books, it appears that Gastineau has been big mad at Favre ever since. And in 2023, the Jets star got the chance to confront Favre over the situation.
When. the video went viral last year, the former Jets star and two-time NFL sack leader was set to be the subject of a documentary called 30 for 30, and the video of the confrontation with Favre was part of that show.
The video showing the two was action-packed.
At the event, Gastineau blasted Favre right to his face, saying, “I’m going to get my sack back. I’m going to get my sack back, dude.”
Probably trying to keep things light, Favre replied, “You probably would hurt me.”
“I don’t care,” Gastineau yelled back. “You hurt me … Do you hear me? You really hurt me, Brett.”
WATCH:
For his part, Favre says that he never had any thoughts about Gastineau when Strahan sacked him. He says that Strahan caught him dead-to-rights, and he didn’t want to get hit too hard for no benefit in the 2002 play.
“I booted out of a run thinking it would be wide open, saw Strahan standing there and ducked down. The game was over. There was no need for me to do anything spectacular. It probably wasn’t Michael’s best sack or tackle for loss. In a different game or situation, I would have made a bigger effort to avoid the sack or TFL. But at no point was I thinking about hurting Gastineau,” Favre explained.
But he also said that the confrontation video from 2023 is “not the kind of moment that should be filmed and released.”
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