ESPN Executive Denies Masturbating Next To Erin Andrews On Plane: Report

Keith Clinkscales, a former ESPN executive, is fighting allegations that he once masturbated next to network correspondent Erin Andrews on a plane.

Clinkscales' lawyer, Judd Burstein, filed a lawsuit against Joan Lynch, the former colleague who he believes leaked the allegations to Deadspin blogger A.J. Daulerio.

Daulerio describes that the spouse of one of Clinkscales' colleagues emailed Deadspin about the incident.

According to Daulerio's source, Clinkscales had been reportedly sitting next to Andrews on a plane when she saw him masturbating underneath his iPad. When he realized that she had seen him, he "panicked and muttered, 'You know, I'm one of your bosses.'"

Andrews, who was the target of a peeping tom in 2008, reportedly spoke to several people about the incident, but ultimately did not go to HR and "just wanted it to go away."

For his part, Clinkscales denies the allegations and claims that his former colleague defamed him "out of spite and racial animus." According to the Daily, his lawyer called the idea of masturbating underneath an iPad "ridiculous" and said, "I’m thinking of bringing a defamation suit on behalf of his penis." He filed the lawsuit after Daulerio approached Clinkscales for comment, but before the story was published. Andrews has refused to comment.

Below, see some of the other scandals that have hit ESPN.

• Sean Salisbury's lewd pictures

  Former ESPN analyst Sean Salisbury was suspended from ESPN for a week after reports that he showed people pictures of his penis. The reasons for his suspension were then-unknown, and Salisbury denied the rumors. But he confirmed the rumors in a January 2010 interview with USA Today.

• Steve Phillips' Brooke Hundley affair

  ESPN analyst and New York Mets' former general manager Steve Phillips had an affair with 22-year old production assistant Brooke Hundley -- and it did not end well. Hundley sent a letter to Phillips' wife detailing their affair and even crashed her car into their house after dropping it off. Phillips' wife left him as a result of the scandal.

• Erik Kuselias

  In 2009, ESPN Radio host Erik Kuselias (left) was temporarily suspended after drunkenly telling a female co-worker at a party, "I would like to f-ck you." The co-worker reported him to HR, and was reportedly told that complaints had been filed against him before. Kuselias' wife also left him after a private investigator found out that he had been cheating on her with ESPN's Stephanie Bell.

• Erin Andrews' stalker

  ESPN reporter Erin Andrews was the target of a peeping tom who stalked her and videotaped her nude in 2008. Her stalker was sentenced to two and a half years in prison -- a sentence that Andrews condemned as not enough.

• Woody Paige sexual harassment lawsuit

  A makeup artist sued commentator Woody Paige and ESPN for sexual harassment in 2007. Her lawsuit alleged that Paige pinched and fondled her, and that ESPN host Jay Crawford also made crude comments toward her.

• Partying with porn stars

  ESPN's Michael Wilbon, Jon Barry and JA Adande were photographed partying with porn stars in Los Angeles in 2008.

• Jed Drake email

  After revelations about the relationship between Kate Lacey and David Berson, one former ESPN employee emailed Deadspin with more allegations about the transgressions at the network. They called Jed Drake a "world class scumbag - fucking his secretary, production assistants, trying to fuck interns and having to fly across the atlantic to apologize to her parents after an incident at the wimbledon..." Another email revealed some of code words for the standard practices among employees.

• Mike Tirico

  Mike Tirico was suspended for three months for sexual harassment. Mike Freeman's 2000 book "ESPN: An Uncensored History" reported several incidents where Tirico tried to wedge his hand between a production assistant's thighs, and followed one female producer on the highway.

• Kate Lacey and David Berson

  ESPN vehemently denied reports of a relationship between ESPN VP Kate Lacey and her colleague David Berson in 2009, but Lacey confirmed the relationship to the New York Post shortly afterwards. Sources said the relationship had been going on for two years, before Berson finalized his divorce with his wife. Tipsters told Deadline that employees had been fired for lesser discretions, but that their relationship went unchallenged.

• Jason Jackson emails

  NBA reporter Jason Jackson was fired in 2002 for sending emails with sexual jokes, which he admitted were inappropriate.