Jim Ayello

Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS — Former race car driver and local TV personality Derek Daly filed a $25 million defamation lawsuit Thursday against WISH-TV, claiming the station inaccurately reported his connection to the use of a racial slur.

Last August, WISH-TV fired Daly as a racing analyst and IndyCar expert after saying it had determined he was the source of the racial slur that led to the retirement of long-time Indianapolis Colts broadcaster Bob Lamey.

According to the filing, Daly is seeking punitive damages on top of the $25 million after WISH-TV made “statements which they knew, or should have known, were false and defamatory” and that caused Daly to “suffer damages to his reputation and loss of income.”

Real news, brought to you by real Hoosiers. Support our local journalists.

Daly, represented by Tim Stoesz of Westfield-based firm Stoesz & Stoesz, filed the suit with Hamilton Superior Court on Thursday. WISH-TV parent company Nexstar also was named in the suit. Nexstar is a publicly traded telecommunications company based in Irving, Texas.

IndyStar has reached out to WISH-TV and Nexstar for comment on this story and is awaiting reply.

Daly says he didn't confirm he was source of Bob Lamey slur

Since being fired by WISH, Daly, who is also a motivational speaker, has had all of his speaking engagements canceled, he said. He said he also had to close his office and lay off his personal assistant of 10 years.

“Reputation is really the most valuable thing any of us have,” Daly told IndyStar in an exclusive interview. “For someone to take it away and to smear it like WISH did … Well, I believed from the beginning that a suit would be my only means of fighting back, to right this wrong.”

Daly’s suit alleges that he was fired because Lamey inaccurately attributed a racial slur to him during the retelling of a story from the 1980s.WISH-TV reported on its website and on the air the night of Aug. 22, 2018, that Daly was the source of the slur.

“WISH-TV has learned that the original story and offensive language came from racing analyst Derek Daly,” WISH-TV anchor Brooke Martin said. “It was a story Daly told Lamey during a live radio interview in the early 1980s. We spoke with Daly and he confirmed he was the source of Lamey’s story.”

Daly, 65, alleges there are multiple inaccuracies in the WISH report. He said he was not the source of the racial slur Lamey's used. To his best recollection, he said, he has never been interviewed by Lamey. Daly also said WISH-TV never explicitly asked him if he was the source of Lamey’s slur, so there’s no way he could have confirmed it. Had they asked, he said, he would have said, "No."

Daly did admit uttering a slur

Daly did admit to WISH-TV that he had used the n-word during an interview in the early 1980s. He said that he told WISH the conversation including n-word was with then-IMS radio announcer Larry Henry. Larry Henry backed up Daly’s story when contacted by IndyStar in August.

In a statement released after he was fired, the Ireland-born Daly apologized for using the slur and explained his ignorance of the word’s meaning at the time.

"I was explaining that I was a foreign driver now in America, driving for an American team, with an American crew, and with an American sponsor – and that if things did not go well, the only 'n-word in the wood pile' would be me.

"At the time, I meant that I, as the new foreigner on the team, would shoulder the blame and I would be the scapegoat. This was not in any way shape or form meant to be a racial slur. This phrase was commonly used in Ireland, Britain, and Australia. When I used that phrase in the early 80’s, I had no idea that in this country that phrase had a horribly different meaning and connotation, as it was commonplace in Ireland. After moving to the United States, I quickly learned what a derogatory term it was. When I was first informed of this, I was mortified at the offense I might have caused people. I have therefore never used the word since."

That is what he told WISH when he was asked about Lamey, Daly said. He said he also emailed WISH a statement clarifying what happened.

Daly said he assumed sending a written account of his transgression would clear him of any connection to Lamey.

"What I didn’t realize is they had already connected me to the story," Daly said. "They were already convinced Lamey’s racial slur came from me, and even though they had the specific details, they were already on a path to the blazing headlines."

'WISH-TV stands by our reporting'

After publishing the initial story of Daly's firing on Aug. 22, WISH updated its story the following day with a new statement:

"WISH-TV stands by our reporting on this matter. News 8 journalists accurately reported what Daly shared with us on Wednesday. Daly confirmed to WISH-TV that his comments from the early 1980s led to the Lamey controversy.”

That online article has since been taken down.

According to the filing, Daly sent a letter to WISH-TV's general manager and news director on Aug. 24, 2018, requesting a full retraction and to discontinue making further defamatory statements about him.

The suit alleges that WISH did not issue any retraction and continued to "repeat the same false and defamatory statements about Daly. As a result of the false and defamatory statements of Defendants, Plaintiff Derek Daly suffered damages to his reputation and loss of income."

Daly says that since August, his speaking career has been in tatters. He told IndyStar that on Monday a contracted event for him to speak Feb 22. in Phoenix was canceled. He said he thinks someone made the client aware of what happened in August.

According to his Keppler Speakers webpage, Daly earned $10,000 to $20,000 for a speaking engagement.

Daly added that he believes himself to be unhirable by any media outlet at this point.

"Right now, I would be toxic, because the truth isn’t out there," he said. "That is 100 percent is why we’re doing this is get the truth out there."

Derek Daly's son, Conor Daly, also was affected by August's events. A few days after WISH fired Derek Daly, Eli Lilly pulled its sponsorship from Daly's son, Conor Daly, at a NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc.

Derek Daly said he was was humiliated.

"I'm driving to Road America, when he calls me and says, 'Dad, it'd be better if you didn't come," Derek Daly recalls. "So my son, who was at such a delicate time in his career now became toxic to one of the biggest brand names in the world. That's a serious blow right there."

Age of Absurdity: Eli Lilly pushes political correctness to absurd level

Daly vowed that he would take no part in a settlement that didn't include a full retraction and public apology by those involved.

Daly says he's writing a book

Daly also said he has total confidence that he will get those things. He said he and legal counsel can prove WISH-TV defamed him by erroneously connecting him to Lamey's racial slur.

"What gives me total confidence in where we're going with this is that nobody in this city or in this country could ever stand up and say they ever heard me say the n-word again or heard me make an off-color racial joke," Daly said. "Ever. That's what gives me confidence. I know no one's going to come up with a tape or photo or anything that implicates me. Nothing like that."

Daly, author of two books including 2017's "A Champion's Path: Race Team Tactics for Business," says he is 60,000 words into a new book called “Race to Judgment.” He said it will be a reflection on today’s society based on his experiences that past six months.

Follow IndyStar Sports reporter Jim Ayello on Twitter and Facebook: @jimayello.