Ex-ESPNer blames his ‘guerilla’ firing for heart attack

A former ESPN announcer in the middle of a lawsuit against the company said Wednesday he had suffered a heart attack linked to stress from the legal dispute.

Doug Adler told FOX Sports Radio’s Clay Travis he was taken to a hospital Tuesday and still was there. Adler said doctors blamed the heart attack on stress stemming from people calling him a racist.

Adler came under fire for a comment Jan. 18 while he was calling a Venus Williams match at the Australian Open. He described Williams as using the “the guerilla effect” during a play in her match.

The lawsuit said the comment went viral because it was pushed along by the New York Times on Twitter labeling it as the “appalling” term “gorilla,” which “ignited the flames of anger and hatred.” Adler was fired two days later.

“By the way ESPN chose to handle this non-issue, they effectively branded me, my character and my reputation for the rest of my life,” Adler told FOX News last month.

Adler said ESPN and its executives knew he used the word “guerilla” and not “gorilla,” but fired him anyway. He had finished work without a word from his managers following the incident and returned the next day.

“I was eating in the lounge area when the boss showed up out of the blue,” Adler said. “He was bowing to pressure because it was all over Twitter.”

Adler was told to apologize on air and he complied. But instead of resuming his broadcasting, he was pulled from the show and fired the next day. He was “told he was done working tennis at ESPN,” the complaint said.