December 4, 2012
Mr. Eric Shanks
Co-President
FOX Sports Media Group
10201 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles CA 90035
Re: The UFC and FOX show poor judgment in the
selection of fighters to compete on “UFC on FOX 5” event
Dear Mr. Shanks:
We are writing to alert you about
two UFC fighters who are scheduled to compete on the “UFC on FOX 5” event on
December 8th at the KeyArena in Seattle. Attached you will find the
Trial Information in the pending criminal case involving one UFC fighter, and
two guilty pleas entered into by the other UFC fighter.
Jeremy Dean Stephens, a
professional cage fighter who competes under the nickname “Lil’ Heathen,”[1] has
been charged with Willful Injury Causing Serious Injury (Class C felony),
Burglary in the First Degree (Class B felony), and Assault Causing Bodily
Injury (Serious Misdemeanor). A trial in
the case is currently schedule for January 9, 2013.
Abel
Nazario Trujillo, another cage fighter scheduled to compete on the UFC fight
card on Dec. 8th in Seattle,[2] has
twice pleaded guilty to Domestic Abuse Assault Causing Bodily Injury, an
aggravated misdemeanor. In both cases, the victim was identified as the mother
of his child. In May 2007, Trujillo also pleaded guilty to Obstruction of an
Emergency Communication. In the plea agreement, Trujillo acknowledged that the
crime required the State to prove that his alleged assault victim was making a
911 call, Trujillo knew that she was making a 911 call, and Trujillo hung up
the phone. Trujillo competes under the nickname “Killa.”[3]
These criminal cases raise
serious questions about FOX’s programming judgment. At minimum, FOX and the UFC
should wait for the resolution of an upcoming jury trial related to the allegations
against Stephens before allowing Stephens to fight on FOX. The trial is
scheduled for January 9th in Iowa.
Stephens was arrested on October
5th in Minneapolis on an Iowa warrant, just hours before his
previously scheduled fight on UFC.[4]
One of the victims of the alleged
assault is identified as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army who has dedicated
his career to military service and has been deployed overseas multiple times,
according to a 2010 article.[5]
This should be of concern to FOX, given that fans of cage fighting events and
regular viewers of FOX likely include military veterans and active-duty
soldiers who, along with their families, have paid a great sacrifice to our
country.
The UFC already has a troubled
relationship with some leaders in the veterans’ community and advocates for
survivors of sexual assault, who believe the cage fighting organization has not
done enough to prevent socially irresponsible speech among its fighters.[6] UFC fighters have made jokes about rape,
homophobic slurs and sexually explicit remarks that are demeaning towards
women.
In a disturbing video published
in April 2012 on YouTube, UFC fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson pretends to
sexually assault a woman in a parking garage using chloroform and zip ties.[7] Jackson is scheduled to fight on the “UFC on
FOX 6” event on Jan. 26th in Chicago.[8] At
a public press conference in December 2011, UFC fighter Rashad Evans taunted
his opponent by threatening to act like former Pennsylvania State University
assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who at the time faced more than 50
counts of sexual misconduct involving young boys.[9] In
other cases, UFC fighters have made light of rape on their Twitter accounts.[10]
You can find more incidents of
offensive behavior among people associated with the UFC at the following
website: www.UnfitForChildren.org
As reported by FOX News, this
summer more than 10,000 people nationwide signed a petition calling on the U.S.
Marine Corps to renounce its support of the UFC and to refrain from using taxpayer
money to sponsor the organization.[11] A veterans committee of UNITE HERE delivered
these petitions to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James Amos; to
Marine Corps recruiting stations in 10 cities; to Representative Howard “Buck”
McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee; and to the Defense
Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS).
Leaders of more than a dozen
state and national organizations that advocate on behalf of veterans and/or
survivors of sexual assault have called on the military to sever ties with the
UFC. These groups include the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence,
National Institute of Military Justice, Protect Our Defenders, Women in the
Military Project, Veterans For Peace, Veterans For Common Sense, Veterans
United for Truth, and the Veterans Committee of UNITE HERE, among others.
The UFC was no doubt aware of the
criminal charges against Jeremy Stephens at the time in which it announced on
November 23rd that Stephens would fight on Dec. 8th on
FOX[12].
The alleged assault was widely publicized in the national news media. FOX
Sports, ESPN, New York Post and USA Today, among other media outlets,
reported details of the arrest and an unsuccessful effort by the UFC to get
Stephens out of jail on bail in time for a UFC fight in Minneapolis on October 5th.[13]
Stephens’ management agency,
Evolution Agent, released a statement denying that Stephens was involved in the
alleged assault. [14]
According to the statement, Stephens attended a party in Des Moines in which a
physical altercation occurred, and Stephens’ “name came up during the police
investigation of the assault.”[15]
Less than 48 hours after
Stephens’ arrest in Minneapolis on Oct. 5th, UFC President Dana White was quoted
in USA Today and the New York Post as saying he believed
Stephens’ assertion that he was innocent. “I’m taking [Stephens’] word for it,”
White was quoted as saying. “Man to man, that’s what he says, and I’m going to take
his word for it. I believe him.” [16]
White was also quoted as saying he was willing to pay an “astronomical amount
of money” to bail Stephens out of jail in time for the Oct. 5th UFC
fight in Minneapolis.[17]
White’s rush to support Stephens
following his arrest was criticized by some in the media.[18] Josh
Gross of ESPN wrote, “[White] can’t
know the truth about Stephens, yet he pushed and pushed to get him out on bond
so he could fight in a cage the same night? Think about the optics, which
probably has more to do with public relations but also delves into real-world business.
Where’s the benefit to the UFC?”[19]
There are other professional cage
fighters with better fight records. As noted on UFC.com, Stephens has lost three
of his last five contests in the UFC.[20] Why isn’t a different cage fighter scheduled
to fight on December 8th on FOX?
In light of the concerns cited
above, we strongly encourage FOX to wait for the resolution of the jury trial
in Iowa related to the alleged assault before allowing Stephens to fight on
your network.
We also ask you to contact us within
ten (10) days of receiving this letter to discuss further these concerns. For
more information, please call Chris Serres at (702)-386-5231 or send an e-mail to cserres@culinaryunion226.org.
Regards,
Chris Serres
Research Analyst
Culinary Workers Union, Local 226
UNITE HERE
Cc:
Mr. Randy Freer, Co-President, FOX
Sports Media Group
Mr.
Peter Rice, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, FOX Networks Group
Mr. Lou D’Ermilio, Senior Vice President,
Communications, FOX Sports Media Group
Mr.
Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, News Corp.
Mr.
John Entz, Executive Vice President, Production, FOX Sports Media Group
Ms.
Ileana Pena, Director of Communications, FOX Sports Media Group
Mr.
Chris Bellitti, Vice President, Corporate Communications, FOX Sports Media
Group
Mr.
John Landgraf, President and General Manager, FX Network
Ms.
Shannon Ryan, Executive Vice President, FOX Broadcasting Company
Ms.
Laurel Bernard, Executive Vice President, Marketing, FOX Broadcasting Company
Mr.
Joe Earley, Chief Operating Officer, FOX Broadcasting Company
Mr.
Mike Hopkins, President, Distribution, FOX Networks Group
Ms. Natalie Bancroft, Director, News
Corp.
Mr. James Breyer, Director, News
Corp.
Mr. Chase Carey, Director, News
Corp.
Ms. Elaine Chau, Director, News
Corp.
Mr. Viet Dinh, Director, News Corp.
Sir Roderick Eddington, Director,
News Corp.
Mr. Lachlan Murdoch, Director, News
Corp.
Mr. Stanley Shuman, J.D., Director Emeritus,
News Corp.
Mr. Arthur Siskind, Senior Adviser
to Chairman, Director Emeritus, News Corp.
Mr. Joel Klein, Executive Vice
President, News Corp.
Mr.
Gerson Zweifach, Senior Executive Vice President, Group General Counsel, News
Corp.
Mr.
Reed Nolte, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations, News Corp.
Shareholders
of News Corp.
[6]
Hlad, Jennifer, “Groups call on Marines to sever ties with UFC,” Aug.
21, 2012, Stars and Stripes, http://www.stripes.com/news/groups-call-on-marines-to-sever-ties-with-ufc-1.186433; Harkins, Gina, “Veterans push
Marines to break with UFC,” July 16, 2012, Marine
Corps Times, http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2012/07/marine-ufc-protest-petition-union-071612http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2012/07/marine-ufc-protest-petition-union-071612; Drummond, Katie, “The
Military’s UFC Feud: Union, Vets Want Sponsorship Axed,” July 18, 2012, Forbes.com, http://www.forbes.com/sites/katiedrummond/2012/07/18/ufc-marines/; French, Lauren, “Lawmakers eye
military sports sponsorship budget for cuts,” July 16, 2012, Reuters, http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/07/16/us-lawmakers-sports-idUKBRE86F1B320120716
[10]
McNeil, Franklin, “UFC fires Miguel Torres for tweet,” Dec. 9, 2011, ESPN.com, http://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/7334939/ufc-releases-miguel-torres-rape-van-twitter-post; The Huffington Post, “Forrest
Griffin Rape Jokes: MMA Fighter Sparks Controversy on Twitter,” Nov. 9, 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/09/forrest-griffin-rape-jokes-twitter_n_1084471.html
[13] Associated Press, “UFC’s
Stephens arrested before fight,” Oct. 6, 2012, Fox Sports, http://msn.foxsports.com/ufc/story/jeremy-stephens-arrested-felony-warrant-morning-of-ufc-fight-100512; Morgan, John, “Dana White tried
to bail out fighter before UFC on FX,” Oct. 7, 2012, USA Today, http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mma/2012/10/06/ufc-dana-white-jeremy-stephens-bail-out/1616643/; Gross, Josh, “Stephens steals
show with no-show,” Oct. 8, 2012, ESPN.com,
http://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/8475974/jeremy-stephens-steals-show-no-show
[16] Morgan, John, “Dana White tried
to bail out fighter before UFC on FX,” Oct. 7, 2012, USA Today, http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mma/2012/10/06/ufc-dana-white-jeremy-stephens-bail-out/1616643/; Raimondi, Marc, “UFC prez tried
to pay `astronomical amount’ to bail fighter out of jail,” Oct. 6, 2012, http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/the_main_event/ufc_prez_tried_out_pay_astronomical_MarEbpOlYw0HZtsEwDhmFK#axzz2DdvzqP00
[18] Dundas, Chad, “UFC handles
crises by its own book,” Oct. 9, 2012, ESPN.com,
http://espn.go.com/blog/mma/post/_/id/14637/ufc-handles-crises-by-its-own-book; Rondina, Steven, “Jeremy
Stephens’ Arrest Fiasco Huge Misstep by UFC, Dana White,” Oct. 5, 2012, Bleacher Report, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1360773-jeremy-stephens-arrest-fiasco-huge-misstep-by-ufc-dana-white
