Daniel Snyder’s stay on Twitter could be short. His remaining tenure as owner of the Washington Football Team could be even shorter.
The Washington Post, which reported last month that 15 former female employees contend that they were sexually harassed while working for the team but did not make any accusations against Snyder directly, has published a new article that directly implicates Snyder in one instance of alleged misconduct, and that indirectly implicates him in another.
First, former cheerleader Tiffany Bacon Scourby contends that Snyder approached her at a 2004 charity event and suggested that she join Snyder’s close friend and the team’s “official ophthalmologist,” Anthony Roberts, in a hotel room so that they “could get to know each other better.” Three of Scourby’s friends, including the team’s former cheerleading director, said that she told them about the incident shortly after it happened.
The team did not comment on the matter, and Snyder declined to be interviewed by the Post.
Second, former Washington senior V.P. and lead broadcaster Larry Michael, who abruptly retired a day before the original Post story was published, allegedly asked for the production of a video of revealing outtakes from a video documenting the making of the team’s 2008 cheerleader swimsuit calendar. Michael allegedly referred to the outtakes as “the good bits” or “the good parts” of the video shoot. A former member of Michael’s staff said that Michael asked staffers to make the video for Snyder.
The team and Snyder did not comment on this allegation, either. Michael, per the Post, “adamantly denied” it.
Brad Baker, the former member of Michael’s staff, told the Post that “Larry said something to the effect of, ‘We have a special project that we need to get done for the owner today: He needs us to get the good bits of the behind-the-scenes video from the cheerleader shoot onto a DVD for him.”
Another video allegedly was created in 2010, with Michael allegedly requesting that the video be recorded on a DVD with the title “For Executive Meeting.”
The Post obtained both videos, and it concluded based on analysis of the metadata in the video files that there was no evidence of manipulation of the 2008 video. (The article does not expressly articulate that same conclusion as to the 2010 video, although the authenticity of the 2010 video seems to be strongly implied.) The Post explained that the videos came from a former employee who saved them “because I didn’t think anyone would believe it was real.” The former employee decided to provide the videos to the Post after last month’s report was published, hopeful that the NFL will “hold the team more accountable.”
The initial article from the Post apparently had that same effect on others. The number of former female employees who claim they experienced sexual harassment while working for the Washington Football Team has increased from 15 to 40, with 25 more now speaking out. Per the Post, “many” decided to speak out because they believe Snyder has tried to distance himself from the culture of the workplace.
The article also contains details regarding the atmosphere within the workplace, one that allegedly made it difficult for female employees to complain about the treatment they were experiencing. The most significant development, by far, is that, unlike last month’s report, the Post this time around has put one dart into the Daniel Snyder bull’s-eye and has landed another one incredibly close to it.
In a separate item, we’ll address what should happen next.