Brenda Tracy Explains Why She Didn't Get Off the Phone With Mel Tucker, Files Lawsuit

More than a year after Brenda Tracy’s accusation came to light that then-Michigan State University football coach Mel Tucker committed a sex act during a late-night phone call without her consent , she responded to a question that she said had been asked privately and publicly.

Why didn’t she hang up on Tucker during the phone call?

Tracy spoke publicly for the first time last week with a Lansing-based television reporter and said that when she realized what was happening, she heard a voice inside her saying this was happening , whether she liked it or not and she was going to have to get through it. he.

It was a feeling that reminded her of the time she was gang-raped in 1998 by four Oregon State University football players and had a traumatic reaction that left her paralyzed, said Tracy.

“I heard my voice screaming in my head, ‘You have to say something, you have to say something. You can’t let this happen again,'” Tracy said in a live-streamed interview with WILX-TV, so that tears were coming to him. his eyes and his voice trembled. “And I managed to get the words out: ‘If you do this, I never want to hear about it again. I don’t want to talk about it. We’re just friends.’ And then I feel like I escaped…, I froze. This is what I had to do to get out of it.'”

Tracy, an activist and advocate for sexual assault survivors, opened up about what allegedly happened between her and Tucker in April 2022 during a wide-ranging interview last Wednesday with WILX-TV News 10 anchor Ann Emmerich, as her attorney, Karen Truszkowski, sat nearby. alongside him at the Okemos Event Center. The hour-long interview took place days after Tracy filed a civil suit against Tucker in Ingham County Circuit Court, alleging defamation.

More: Interview with Brenda Tracy on WILX TV Brenda Tracy talks about former MSU football coach Mel Tucker

Tucker’s attorneys did not respond to requests for comment on Tracy’s interview or his lawsuit against the former coach.

Tracy, an Oregon resident, met Tucker in 2021 when he was looking for someone to raise awareness about sexual violence prevention. MSU has been rocked for years by the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal involving young female athletes. Tucker, who was one of the highest-paid coaches in sports with a 10-year MSU contract worth $95 million, invited Tracy to speak to the MSU football team three times, and a friendship s is developed.

More: A timeline of events that led to the Title IX complaint and Tucker’s suspension from MSU

Tracy filed a confidential complaint with MSU against Tucker in December 2022 and accused the coach of making sexually inappropriate comments to her and masturbating without her consent during a late-night phone call in April 2022 Tucker said their relationship was consensual, as was the phone conversation.

Tracy posted the full interview last week on X, saying: “It was hard to open that wound, but I don’t regret it.”

She also posted a four-minute segment explaining why she didn’t hang up on the phone call with Tucker on was “extremely triggered” by the phone call. She also wondered what would have happened if she hadn’t been traumatized by gang rape.

“If you’re on the phone, if your boss… someone who controls your ability to work, your livelihood, and that person starts doing something, do I hang up and make them angry? Do I accept it? » said Tracy. “Asking me why I didn’t hang up is not a good question. Ask him why he did it in the first place. And put me in a position where I would even have to hang up or report his behavior.”

The interview follows the filing earlier this month of a civil action against Tucker in Ingham County Circuit Court that accuses Tucker of making factually inaccurate statements after his confidential complaint to MSU and publicly damage its reputation.

Among Tucker’s statements that the lawsuit says are false are that Tracy wanted to participate in “phone sex” and that she “wanted a sugar daddy to pay her $4,000 a month to be their girlfriend” and that she would be “all over him” if he wasn’t. I’m not married.

The suit also alleges that Tucker invaded her privacy, intentionally inflicted emotional duress on her, and illegally possessed and distributed text messages between her and her best friend and business partner, who died in a car accident in June 2023.

The suit seeks a jury trial, unspecified damages and attorney’s fees.

Both Tracy and Tucker filed lawsuits against MSU.

MSU fired Tucker in September 2023, weeks after the complaint became public and he still had about $80 million remaining on his contract. Officials said he violated a “moral turpitude” clause in his contract and ridiculed the university when details of his relationship with Tracy became public. MSU then held a Title IX hearing in which a hearing officer ruled that Tucker had violated several terms of his contract. MSU also barred him from future employment.

In August, Tucker sued MSU for wrongful termination. According to the lawsuit, school officials made the football coach a victim of their desperation to protect their jobs and reputations, amid increased scrutiny of the university’s mishandling of previous scandals, which fueled his dismissal after the sexual harassment complaint without due process.

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