Alleged Witnesses In Michael Irvin Incident Recount Story, Back Hall of Famer

Michael Irvin was pulled from NFL Network’s Super Bowl coverage after he was accused of misconduct by a woman in a hotel lobby, but now two alleged witnesses are coming to the Hall of Famer’s defense.

TMZ Sports spoke to Phil Watkins, a man from Australia, in Arizona on Thursday, who says he watched and listened to the interaction between 56-year-old Irvin and his alleged accuser, an interaction he described as “positive” and “friendly”.

Watkins says he was hanging out with his buddies, taking photos with the Hall of Famer outside the hotel where Michael was staying. As they walked inside, the witness says Irvin was approached by a woman as he was trying to go to the elevator.

Sources close to Irvin say this is the woman who made the allegation against him.

We asked Watkins to describe what he saw.

“It was a positive, friendly conversation. They had a brief interaction, it was 30, 40 seconds, he kept his distance at all times, stood about a meter away from her, they ended with a handshake and he literally turned around and went to the lift.”

We doubled down, asking if there was anything that could’ve been interpreted as being improper.

“Not at all. Not at all. There was a little bit of laughter. Obviously a jovial conversation. Nothing untoward for me to actually take notice of what was going on,” Watkins said.

We also talked to a second alleged witness, Bryn Davis from Philadelphia, who echoed Watkins’ story.

“We walked back to go into the bar, [Irvin] went straight to go to his hotel room, and I guess somebody that worked there, I don’t know if it was a waitress or a bartender I guess came up and said, ‘Hey Michael Irvin.’ And he said, ‘Oh, nice to meet you, I’m Michael’ and shook her hand.”

“The crazy part was it was like a 30-second interaction. It could’ve been a minute. I didn’t really think much of it ’cause it was just a fan kind of thing.”

Davis provided our photog with the photograph he took with his friends and Irvin.

Later in the week, Davis says he was in shock when he read Michael had been accused of misconduct because they’d just taken a photo together. But, then he says he realized he’d witnessed the alleged incident and was shocked.

“I woke up I guess this morning and saw this thing that said, ‘Michael Irvin [misconduct]’, and I was like, God, I just took a picture with that guy, I can’t believe it.’ and then I read it and it was from the night I was there and I was like, this is baffling, cause I saw it and I never witnessed something like that happen before.”

Asked to describe the interaction again, Davis repeated … “It was about a 30-second interaction that was jovial, like a fan interaction, and she went back to work.”

We asked Davis if anything he saw would explain Irvin being booted from NFLN.

“That’s why this morning I felt sick when I saw it because it’s the first time I was ever, firsthand experience where something like that happened that was just fabricated. It was a totally normal conversation.”

“And the bar was relatively packed. It was a quick conversation in a crowded area. He went on his way and I never thought about it again.”

Davis also explained why he’s decided to speak out.

“I’ll say this, man. I’m from Philadelphia. I grew up and Michael was our enemy. But he’s a super, super, super nice guy, and that’s why I felt like I needed to say something only because he’s a good dude and to have that happen and have your livelihood or career taken is crazy. It’s not fair so it was worth coming out and saying something.”

As for the specifics of the allegations, virtually nothing is known about what the woman says happened.

We broke the story on Thursday … Irvin is seeking $100 million from the Renaissance, accusing the hotel of “railroading” him in an attempt to unjustly cancel him.

Michael briefly spoke on the radio earlier in the week and said he was “totally perplexed” by the situation.

We reached out to the police to ask if an investigation had been launched … and they referred us to the NFL.