February 26, 2014
Playing the Martyr: 'I Was Fired For Opposing Gay Marriage'
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 1 MIN.
Former television college football analyst Craig James is complaining to the state that his firing by Fox Sports Southwest was an act of religious discrimination.
In a statement issued Tuesday by the Plano, Texas-based Liberty Institute, James alleges a national Fox Sports spokesman told The Dallas Morning News that James was terminated from Fox Sports Southwest for religious beliefs against same-sex marriage.
Liberty Institute, a nonprofit legal group that promotes religious rights, filed the complaint Tuesday with the Texas Workforce Commission.
A Fox Sports statement said James was hired without proper vetting and that he's "a polarizing figure in the college sports community." He was let go "based on the perception that he abused a previous on-air position to further a personal agenda."
In 2009, Texas Tech fired football coach Mike Leach after James accused him of mistreating his son Adam, a member of Leach's team. In 2012, the ex-NFL running back resigned as an ESPN analyst to run unsuccessfully in the Texas Republican U.S. Senate primary.
