Fifteen Women Accuse Washington D.C.’s NFL Team’s Executives Of Sexual Harassment

Fifteen women say they were sexually harassed while employed by the Washington, D.C. NFL team.

The article by the Washington Post that was initially slated to be published on Tuesday was officially posted on Thursday. For the past few days, journalists and former athletes of the NFL team have been tweeting about information that was expected to be included in The Washington Post article that detailed the team’s “toxic culture” and “dark past.” “The warped and toxic culture of the Washington Football Team is about to be exposed in a sickening fashion . . . Again,” wrote Jason La Confora of CBS, who once covered the Washington beat for the Washington Post.

Now, according to the article, Fifteen women who used to work for the Washington NFL team say they were sexually harassed between 2006 and 2019. The women say those involved in the alleged harassment included the organization’s employees and people close to the team’s owner, #DanSnyder. Fourteen of the 15 women have decided to remain anonymous, but one of the alleged victims, Emily Applegate, spoke out about the uncomfortable environment that she worked in. Some of the alleged victims said they did not want to speak out, fearing they would receive backlash, and others mentioned that they signed a non-disclosure agreement.

Applegate started working with the team back in 2014; she told Will Hobson and Liz Clarke of the Washington Post that she and another co-worker would meet daily to “commiserate and cry about the frequent sexual harassment and verbal abuse they endured.” She continued: “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.” Washington’s longtime radio host #LarryMichael, who retired suddenly on Wednesday, and team director of pro personnel #AlexSantos, who was recently let go, were two names that were mentioned in the article that was posted Thursday. Both men were accused of inappropriate behavior. Six women and two reporters say Santos made inappropriate comments about the women’s bodies and asked them if they were romantically interested in him, Fox News reports.

Richard Mann II, former assistant director of pro personnel, said in a text message, which The Post obtained, that he was debating with his colleagues whether a female employee had gotten her breast done. Mann was fired last week by the team. None of the women accused Snyder or former team president Bruce Allen of misconduct. However, they say the men had to have known. “I would assume Bruce [Allen] knew because he sat 30 feet away from me… and saw me sobbing at my desk several times every week,” Applegate said.

This isn’t the first time the team has been accused of sexist and inappropriate behavior towards its female employees. Back in 2018, an article was published by The New York Times that detailed a trip to Costa Rica in which the NFL team’s cheerleaders were asked to participate in a photoshoot in revealing and uncomfortable posse while in male team sponsors were present.