August 14, 2026
A Connecticut federal judge on Friday dismissed a former ESPN remote video operator's lawsuit claiming the company's COVID-19 booster requirement violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and breached his employment contract, determining the worker failed to plausibly allege ESPN or its majority owner, Disney, were entangled with the government.
February 03, 2026
ESPN has asked a judge to dismiss a former remote video operator's religious bias lawsuit stemming from a COVID-19 booster vaccine mandate, saying the onetime worker exaggerated its corporate parent's links to the government when accusing the company of being an arm of the state.
August 14, 2025
A South Carolina-based remote ESPN video operator says the sports network, its corporate parent Walt Disney and their executives fired him for refusing a third COVID-19 vaccine dose, resurrecting "state actor" allegations similar to claims in a separate, since-withdrawn lawsuit by the same attorneys in 2023.