ESPN was not exactly as transparent as it could have been in releasing the text messages that were exchanged between Adrienne Lawrence and longtime anchor John Buccigross, but Miko Grimes is here to help fill in some of the blanks.
Grimes, the wife of NFL defensive back Brent Grimes, somehow got a hold of some screenshots that she claims provide more context into the relationship between Lawrence and Buccigross. According to the text messages Grimes shared on Friday, it appears Buccigross first reached out to Lawrence in June 2016 asking her how things were going at ESPN. Lawrence told Buccigross she would “love to hear any tips” he had for her, and the two agreed to meet up outside of work.
What Lawrence is claiming in her lawsuit (and what Grimes says the text messages she shared show) is that Buccigross steered his conversations with Lawrence to an inappropriate place.
So @buccigross reached out June 2016 as a "mentor" but was sending shirtless, UNSOLICITED selfies & heart eyed CREEPY screenshots by Sept! pic.twitter.com/HGEr8dcrty
— Miko Grimes (@iHeartMiko) December 15, 2017
Hey @espn why leave this out?Are u saying UNSOLICITED shirtless selfies are a part of "mentorship" & "friendly" @claytravis u got hustled! pic.twitter.com/rOaMb9KZb3
— Miko Grimes (@iHeartMiko) December 15, 2017
Hey @buccigross did u use "mentorship" to shoot your shot? Why were u texting Ms. Lawrence pics from HER social media with under it? pic.twitter.com/DX5XqU6muI
— Miko Grimes (@iHeartMiko) December 15, 2017
Grimes later claimed in an Instagram post that ESPN is trying to retaliate against Lawrence because Lawrence turned down the $400,000 they offered her in “hush money.”
After the Boston Globe published an article on Thursday citing Lawrence and other women who have felt they were mistreated by ESPN, the network defended Buccigross and shared some of the text messages the anchor exchanged with Lawrence. The texts appeared to show that Buccigross and Lawrence had a friendly relationship, but ESPN chose to leave out the embarrassing photo of Buccigross, which he acknowledged sending.
On Friday, Lawrence responded to ESPN’s decision to publish the texts by ripping the network for framing the story in a certain light.
At the very least, it was a bad look for ESPN to defend Buccigross by sharing only part of the conversation. Context is important in a situation like this, so the lack of transparency gives off the impression that there is something to hide.
