The entertainment and sports industries can’t go one week without a scandal that makes national news.
If it’s not Jussie Smollett then it’s Michael Avenatti and Mark Geragos (Colin Kaepernick’s attorney) embezzling from Nike. If it’s not Avenatti allegedly embezzling money from NBA star Hassan Whiteside then its Liam Neeson admitting he wanted to “kill some black bastard,” one time. Every single week and it’s exhausting.
And this week’s involves an NBA coach being sued for allegedly sexually assaulting someone.
The Los Angeles Lakers were an absolute dumpster fire this season.
The Lakers were plagued by injuries and they didn’t even land the eighth seed in the playoff in the Western Conference.
Less than a week later, the Lakers fired head coach Luke Walton – they claimed it was a mutual departure – from the team. Many Lakers beat writers speculated that was the sole reason why Johnson suddenly resigned.
A few days later, Sacramento Kings General Manager Vlade Divac hired Walton to head coach his team.
And then on Monday, a woman named Kelli Tennant filed a lawsuit against the new Kings’ head coach who claimed he sexually assaulted herin his Santa Monica hotel room while he was an assistant for the Golden State Warriors.
TMZ obtained legal documents that claimed, “He asked her to come and meet him at the Casa Del Mar Hotel in Santa Monica to drop off a book she had published.”
Tennant claimed he was supposed to write a foreword for her new book and that was the reason why she attended the meeting.
TMZ wrote, “Tennant — who worked as a reporter for Spectrum SportsNet and SportsNet LA — says the 2 had a business relationship that went back several years and that’s why she had asked him to write the foreword in her book. Tennant claims when she arrived at Walton’s hotel, he convinced her to come up to his room so they could ‘catch up.’ But when they got to his room, Walton suddenly pinned her to the bed, placing his hips and legs over her body. In the docs, Tennant claims Walton began forcing kisses on her neck, face and chest. She claims she screamed for him to stop and tried to free herself, but he held her down, groped her breasts and groin, and rubbed his erection on her leg.”
After Tennant screamed due to “shock and fear,” fearing that she was about to be raped by the future Lakers head coach, she claims he “relented” and let her get up from the bed.
But as she got up, gathered her things and headed for the door, Walton allegedly “grabbed her from behind and again forced his body up against hers,” according to TMZ.
The court documents also claimed Walton finally stopped and released her while saying “Good to see you,” as she left the hotel room.
TMZ also noted, “Tennant claims she did not initially report Walton’s conduct but was forced to continually interact with him because of her job. She says each time she saw him, Walton would make implied threats of additional physical threats through his conduct — imposing himself on her with big hugs or a kiss, even though she thought she made it clear his advances were unwanted. In the suit, Tennant claims in May 2017 — while Walton was the head coach of the Lakers — there was an incident when Walton greeted her by uttering ‘vulgar, guttural sounds at her’ and said, ‘mmmm … you’re killing me in that dress.’”
In the meantime, Kings’ GM Vlade Divac claims he didn’t know of the accusations.
The Athletic’s Sam Amick cited Divac said, “it was too early in this fact-finding process to explore the possibility of terminating Walton’s contract.”
This may be a long process but the facts will come out in the near future.