The Washington Post reports that fifteen women who worked for the franchise allege sexual harassment by former scouts and members of owner Daniel Snyder’s inner circle.
Here’s a statement from the team:
“The Washington Redskins football team takes issues of employee conduct seriously … While we do not speak to specific employee situations publicly, when new allegations of conduct are brought forward that are contrary to these policies, we address them promptly.”
A number of women were unable to speak with The Post due to non-disclosure agreements that the team refused to release them from. Former marketing coordinator Emily Applegate was, however, able to speak on the record.
Synder declined to be interviewed for the report.
The allegations against members of the organization date as far back as 2006 and as recently as 2019 and include “unwelcome overtures or comments of a sexual nature, and exhortations to wear revealing clothing and flirt with clients to close sales deals.”
The report also identifies former president of business operations Dennis Greene and former COO Mitch Gershman as being among the harassers.
None of the women accused Snyder or former team president Bruce Allen of harassment. However, the women did express skepticism that they were unaware of the behavior.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Washington has hired prominent attorney Beth Wilkinson to “conduct a thorough independent review of this entire matter and help the team set new employee standards for the future.”
This week, the team has fired or moved on from prominent team employees like Richard Mann, Alex Santos and radio play-by-play announcer Larry Michael. All three are among the employees accused in the report.
“We’re trying to create a new culture here,” head coach Ron Rivera said when asked about the dismissal of Santos and Mann. “We’re hoping to get people to understand that they need to judge us on where we are and where we’re going, as opposed to where we’ve been”
The team’s minority owners are reportedly attempting to sell their shares totaling 40 percent of the franchise.
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