Andrew Robert Rector is reportedly suing Major League Baseball Advanced Media, ESPN New York, the New York Yankees, and ESPN announcers Dan Shulman and John Kruk, in Bronx County Supreme Court.
Rector is looking for $10 million in damages for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The incident took place on April 13, during a game at Yankee Stadium, where the Yankees were facing off against their Red Sox rivals. Rector fell asleep sometime before the fourth inning, and at that point “opened [an] unending verbal crusade against the napping plaintiff,” according to the official complaint.
The lawsuit alleges commentators then called him names like “fatty” and called him “unintelligent” and “stupid.” They allegedly also said he was unworthy of being a Yankees fan and that he understood nothing of the rivalry between the Red Sox and Yankees.
Allegedly the MLB left a video of the sleeping fan on the site the next day.
The video above, from the official MLB YouTube channel, has commentators talking at length about Rector. Though they are incredulous, there is no such name-calling.
This is not the first lawsuit launched against the MLB this year. At the end of May, a man sued the Kansas City Royals over a flying hot dog that allegedly almost put out his eye.
