Former New York Jets star defensive end Mark Gastineau has filed a $25 million lawsuit against ESPN over showing and promoting a clip from 2002 in which Gastineau berated former Green Bay Packers star quarterback Brett Favre for “taking a dive” so New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan could break Gastineau’s sack record.
Gastineau’s lawsuit states that Favre and Gastineau shook hands at the end of the 20o2 confrontation, but ESPN elided that portion of the scene, and showed the clip in 2023 at the Chicago Sports Spectacular as part of the “30 For 30: The New York Sack Exchange” documentary, the New York Post reported.
22 years after losing the NFL single-season sack record, Mark Gastineau confronted Brett Favre for ‘taking a dive’ on the record-breaking play.
Catch the latest @30for30, ‘The New York Sack Exchange,’ on ESPN and ESPN+ starting Dec. 13. pic.twitter.com/Oz5KRwVcy7
— ESPN (@espn) December 10, 2024
“During this private encounter November 18, 2023 between Mark Gastineau and Brett Favre, Gastineau was visibly upset and emotional with Favre; however both Mark Gastineau and Brett Favre shook hands at the commencement of this conversation,” the lawsuit avers.
Gastineau’s suit claims that ESPN used the video “without his consent or permission” and led to him having “been attacked on social media with ridicule, scorn and contempt.”
“They will be held accountable for their malicious conduct and pay for misrepresentation of Mark. The Defendant intentionally damaged Mark’s reputation for ratings for ESPN and we intend to hold them accountable,” Gastineau’s attorney, Christopher J. Cassar, declared.
Cassar claimed Gastineau was unaware the confrontation had been recorded and included in the film.
In 2020, Gastineau told ESPN that Strahan, whose sack of Favre gave him 22.5 for the season, should not hold the record; he had accumulated 22 sacks in the 1984 season, later tied by the Minnesota Vikings’ Jared Allen in 2011 and the Kansas City Chiefs’ Justin Houston in 2014.
“It’s my record, and I want it to be known that it’s my record,” Gastineau said. “I’m not going to say, ‘I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings.’ It’s my record.”
“It’s a good record and it took me a long time to get that,” Gastineau added. “It took a lot of work, a lot of work to get that record. So many years I worked my butt off to get it, and I finally got it, and it shouldn’t have been cheapened like it was. It’s like a tarnished record.”
