The Erin Andrews peephole video is now the focal point of a $75 million lawsuit. However, in the words of Andrews’ father, no amount of money will undo the unimaginable trauma the Fox reporter and Dancing with the Stars host has undergone since the 2009 incident.
“I really thought that someone was trying to kill my daughter,” Steve Andrews testified in court, per Page Six.
At the heart of the suit is a Nashville Marriott, which allowed stalker Michael David Barrett to request a room next to Andrews in 2008 so that he could create a peephole to film Andrews undressing and post it online.
Andrews’ father also testified:
“They told us . . . that [Barrett] had called the Marriott and said he wanted to know if she was staying there,” he said. “They said yes. Then he wanted a room right next to her.
“I remember reading [the FBI report] and thinking, how does this happen? That somebody would call a hotel and ask if Erin Andrews is there and they say yes?
“Then they put him in a room next to her,” the dad said. “And he’s up against the door videotaping my daughter. She’s undressed, she’s getting ready for a football game. If this guy had been a killer, she’d be dead.”
A former desk supervisor testified that employees were trained not to give out guest room numbers. Clearly, this was a massive failure on the hotel’s part that endangered Andrews’ privacy and safety. According to her dad, Andrews has “been scared for eight years” and so much as a tap on the shoulder can startle her.
There is no explaining away this type of behavior. Andrews isn’t being “overly dramatic” and the peephole video certainly didn’t “help her career,” as victim shamers might imply. (Quite to the contrary, Andrews’ father recalled his daughter saying, “Everything I’ve worked for is done.”) Andrews was taken advantage of, plain and simple, and what Barrett did is nothing short of an egregious sex crime.
What she has experienced is something no one should have to go through. The outcome of the lawsuit, should it go in Andrews’ favor, won’t undo the damage, but sadly, it’s the best that can be done.
(Via Page Six)
