It wasn’t completely clear what filmmaker Sean Pamphilon meant when he said that, before giving the notorious Gregg Williams audio tapes to the NFL, Pamphilon wants Commissioner Roger Goodell to “answer real questions.”
It’s now becoming more clear what Pamphilon is up to.
Pamphilon wants, as we surmised, a sit-down with Goodell. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports that the NFL had rejected multiple requests from Pamphilon to interview Goodell for “a documentary,” and that Goodell will not submit to an interview with Pamphilon in order to get the Williams tapes.
Mortensen also reports that the NFL was aware of the contents of the tapes, given that Williams, once he came clean about the bounty system, told the league what he had said.
Pamphilon also is reportedly bracing for a subpoena for the tapes, but there can be no subpoena without formal legal action. Whoever handles the appeal of the discipline imposed on the Saints players will have no ability to compel Pamphilon to produce the tapes.
Then again, there’s always a chance that Pamphilon will be the target of the legal action, especially since (as several of you have pointed out) the quality of the audio suggests that maybe, for this specific meeting, the cameras were off and the microphones weren’t obviously present.