Craig James Sues Fox Sports, Claiming Religious Discrimination

Former analyst Craig James has filed suit against Fox Sports, alleging the company infringed on his religious freedom by firing him in 2013, per Yahoo Sports' Graham Watson.    

James spoke to Daniel J. Flynn of Breitbart Sports about the reasoning behind his lawsuit:

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This is very troubling as an employee when your boss holds against you something you said about your belief system nearly eighteen months before you were recruited and hired. I said nothing about my belief system on the air at Fox Sports. So, the fact that they reached back in my past nearly eighteen months and responded to a comment about my biblical belief in natural marriage as a candidate—that’s troubling.

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On Aug. 30, 2013, Fox Sports Southwest announced James would be joining the network as an on-air analyst for a Saturday night recap program (h/t the Houston Chronicle's David Barron). On Sept. 2, 2013, Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch reported that FSSW had fired James.

The decision came shortly after anti-gay comments made by James at a February 2012 Republican Senate primary debate with Ted Cruz and Tom Leppert made the rounds online, per Shelley Kofler of KERA News in Dallas:    

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I think right now in this country, our moral fiber is sliding down a slope that is going to be hard to stop if we don't stand up with leaders who don't go ride in gay parades. I can assure you I will never ride in a gay parade. And I hear what you're saying, Tom, but leaders—our kids out there people need to see examples.

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"We just asked ourselves how Craig's statements would play in our human resources department," said a Fox spokesman on Sept. 6, 2013, per Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News. "He couldn't say those things here."

According to Deitsch, the higher-ups at Fox were upset Fox Sports Southwest hired James without first consulting management of the parent company. In addition, a formal agreement between James and Fox Sports Southwest hadn't been signed by the time he was let go.