Washington’s NFL team could now be in some big trouble. In a report by The Washington Post, 15 women claim they were sexually harassed by former scouts and members of owner Dan Synder’s inner circle. The men being accused of harassment are Alex Santos, Richard Man II, Dennis Green, and Mitch Gershman. Santos was fired by the team last week and he was the director of pro personnel. He’s accused by six former employees and two reporters who covered the team of making inappropriate remarks about their bodies and asking them if they were interested in him romantically. Mann was the assistant director of pro personnel, and The Washington Post obtained screenshots of him sending inappropriate text messages to female employees. Green was the team’s former president of business operations and implored female sales staff to wear low-cut blouses, tight skirts and flirt with wealthy suite holders. Gershman is the team’s former chief operating officer and berated one woman for little problems while complimenting her body.
Another person being accused of harassment is Larry Michael, the longtime voice of the team who recently retired. Michael would “discuss the physical appearance of female colleagues in sexual and disparaging overtones.” Of the 15 women who spoke to the post, one of them, Emily Applegate, was the only one who allowed the newspaper to use her name in the story. She told the Post: “It was the most miserable experience of my life. And we all tolerated it, because we knew if we complained – and they reminded us of this – there were 1,000 people out there who would take our job in a heartbeat.”
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Applegate did not accuses Snyder of harassment towards women, but he is blamed for an understaffed human resources department and would also harass his fellow colleagues, including mocking Greene for being a male cheerleader. Snyder declined several requests for an interview, but the team did release a statement on the issue.
“The Washington Redskins football team takes issues of employee conduct seriously,” the statement read. “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.” The allegations against the team run from 2006 to 2019, and the statement also said the team hired D.C. attorney Beth Wilkinson “to conduct a thorough independent review of this entire matter and help the team set new employee standards for the future. All this comes on the heels of the team retiring the Redskins nickname and logo.
