O.J. Simpson is threatening to sue a Las Vegas casino for $100 million after the establishment banned him from the premises last year.
Malcolm LaVergne, Simpson’s lawyer, warned the Cosmopolitan hotel-casino that the former NFL player and convict may charge the establishment with “malice and racial prejudice” after being banned over a still largely unexplained incident in November.
“Mr. Simpson has had 100% perfect behavior since he’s been on parole,” LaVergne said according to USA Today. “He was having dinner with a friend from out of town, and everything was going great. The next thing you know, when he was leaving, they told him, ‘Don’t come back.'”
The incident spurred controversy early in November when it was reported that Simpson caused some sort of ruckus in a hotel bar. An early report on the incident claimed Simpson was “drunk and disorderly” and may have violated his parole.
Simpson was banned from the bar and the hotel, according to further reports.
However, in the days after initial stories, the hotel insisted that the reports were “inaccurate,” though no clarification was ever offered.
Simpson’s parole officer quickly intervened to ascertain if the former NFL player’s conduct violated the terms of his parole. Simpson was paroled in September after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in 2008.
Simpson was subjected to a series of drug and alcohol tests, but authorities determined that no such violation took place.
Simpson’s lawyer, though, says that with the very public ban, the hotel fostered the perception that the one-time Heisman Trophy winner was drunk and disorderly.
“The Cosmopolitan Casino discriminately singled out Mr. Simpson amongst his non-African American friends and subsequently expelled him for what turned out to be a fake reason while he peacefully visited the Cosmopolitan property,” LaVergne wrote in a statement.
LaVergne also demanded that the hotel issue a public apology to clear up any untoward perceptions.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.