A new ground-breaking story detailing sexual harassment and exploitation has come out in Washington, this time directly alleging that team owner Dan Snyder took part in some of the crude activities that he denied participating in earlier this offseason.
Separate from a report that 17 women had accused members of the Washington Football Team front office of sexual and verbal harassment, the Washington Post reported Wednesday that more than 100 current and former employees allege that Snyder has presided over an organization in which women say they have been marginalized, discriminated against and exploited during his 21 years as owner of the team.
Many of the women who came forward did so after seeing Snyder’s comments from the report last month in which he tried to distance himself from the situation and culture in the franchise, according to the Washington Post.
In the new report, The Post interviewed a former cheerleader in Washington who claims that Snyder directly humiliated her in 2004. Here is an excerpt from the report describing that situation:
One of the women interviewed for this story accused Snyder of directly humiliating her, the first such claim made to The Post. Former cheerleader Tiffany Bacon Scourby said Snyder approached her at a 2004 charity event at which the cheerleaders were performing and suggested she join his close friend in a hotel room so they “could get to know each other better.” Scourby’s account was supported by three friends she spoke to shortly afterward about the alleged incident, including the team’s former cheerleader director.
Another former employee, Brad Baker, who was a member of lead team broadcaster Larry Michael’s staff, told The Post that Michael instructed them to create a DVD containing graphic material from Washington’s cheerleader calendar shoot in 2008 at Snyder’s request.
The lewd outtakes were what Larry Michael, then the team’s lead broadcaster and a senior vice president, referred to as “the good bits” or “the good parts,” according to Brad Baker, a former member of Michael’s staff. Baker said in an interview that he was present when Michael told staffers to make the video for team owner Daniel Snyder.
It is unclear what will happen going forward, and whether or not the NFL will further look into this seemingly disastrous and destructive culture in Washington. This time around, however, it seems that Snyder will be more the target of investigation than he was in times past.
