A federal court in California has dismissed a defamation lawsuit against ESPN and reporter Xuan Thai by former Stanford football coach Troy Taylor.
The ruling late Tuesday found that ESPN’s reporting reflected the facts of two Stanford-commissioned investigations of alleged discriminatory conduct by Taylor while serving as head coach.
Stanford announced Taylor’s firing last March 25, a week after ESPN reported on the findings of the two investigation reports — marked “privileged and confidential” — that identified more than 20 former and current Stanford athletics staffers who had cooperated with investigators.
The bulk of Taylor’s court complaint focused on a headline, a photo caption and characterizations in the text of the original ESPN story that, he asserted, made it appear as though both Stanford investigations had concluded he engaged in bullying and belittling behavior toward female staffers. Three follow-up reports by ESPN repeated some of the language Taylor objected to.
Taylor asserted that the first investigation, in 2023, did not conclude that his behavior constituted gender discrimination. A second investigation occurred in 2024.
“The salient point of defendants’ reporting is that the 2023 investigation found that Mr. Taylor engaged in misconduct toward female staff in the workplace,” Federal Magistrate Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi wrote in her ruling. “That is a substantially true characterization of the 2023 investigation’s and 2024 investigation’s findings.”
DeMarchi found ESPN’s reporting correctly reflected the findings of the investigation reports.
Approving ESPN’s request to dismiss Taylor’s lawsuit,” DeMarchi wrote. “As none of the statements challenged by Mr. Taylor are defamatory as a matter of law, Mr. Taylor’s complaint fails to state a plausible claim for defamation.”
