Numerous Team Executives Depart After Washington’s NFL Franchise Rocked by Bombshell Report of Widespread Sexual Harassment
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The Washington Post published a bombshell report Thursday night detailing a slew of sexual harassment and verbal abuse claims against five male employees within Washington’s NFL franchise.
The paper spoke with 15 former female employees and over 40 people for the story, many of whom described their accounts of harassment by specific members of the organization. Only one of the five accused men commented on the claims — which he denied — and owner Dan Snyder also did not provide a statement to the paper. The Post writes:
Team owner Daniel Snyder declined several requests for an interview. Over the past week, as The Post presented detailed allegations and findings to the club, three team employees accused of improper behavior abruptly departed, including Larry Michael, the club’s longtime radio voice, and Alex Santos, the team’s director of pro personnel.
Prior to the story, Washington’s NFL team fired two of the accused men — director of pro personnel Alex Santos and his assistant director of pro personnel Richard Mann II. The team hired a DC attorney to conduct a “deep dive” of the team’s protocol and minority shareholders of the team are reportedly looking to sell their shares of the team.
The Post’s report features screenshots of text messages between mostly-unnamed former female employees and executives who sent lewd comments to them. The story also details accounts of sexual harassment from a reporter from The Athletic, who was pursued and harassed by Santos, a married man.
Incidents of the accused men include comments about the attractiveness of other employees, vulgar statements told to women about their bodies, and requests of inappropriate conduct between them. Dennis Greene, the team’s former president of business operations, also told female employees to wear “low-cut blouses, tight skirts and flirt with wealthy suite holders,” the Post reports.
The five employees — four executives and the team’s long-time radio voice Larry Michael — have either left the team or been fired as of this week.
Most of the victims spoke anonymously because they signed non-disclosure agreements with the team, barring from them to share their experiences. When the Post asked the team to release them of their agreements, it declined the request.
