Back in 1994, New Orleans Saints quarterback Jim Everett was a guest on Jim Rome’s ESPN talk show, “Talk2.” Things started off affably, until Rome welcomed the athlete as “Chris Evert,” jokingly questioning Everett’s manliness by referring to him as the female tennis star. “You know what? You’ve been calling me that for about the last five years,” Everett responded.
Everett then warned Rome that if he said it again, he should be prepared to take a station break, stating, “I’ll bet you don’t say it again.” Rome, grinning mischievously, retorted by saying, “I’ll bet I do … Chris.” Everett responded by leaping to his feet, upending the table that was between them and pushing Rome to the floor while a production staffer scurried over to break things up. According to a report in The Washington Post, Everett immediately exited the studio.
As Rome told the Post, Everett apologized to one of the producers, recalling that he said, “I’ve had to listen to this [on Rome’s radio show] for three years. I’m sorry. I just snapped.” Everett later spoke about his actions during a teleconference and insisted that he had no regrets over his extreme response to Rome’s taunting. “Really don’t condone my actions, but I was put in a position that I thought was going to be in a journalistic-type interview and, instead, I was put into what I felt was a taunting attack,” he said.
