Former Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III is writing a book, with Gary Myers. Griffin announced the book by saying that it will cover, among other things, the sexual harassment scandal that continues to affect the team, and a “toxic environment” within the organization.
So why hasn’t Griffin previously said something about the sexual harassment? More importantly, why isn’t he saying it now, given the clear public and Congressional interest in the subject?
“That’s a really valid question,” Myers recently told Glynn A. Hill of the Washington Post, as to Griffin’s past silence. “My thought was that during that period of time, the fact that he was playing for another team when those stories came out, he just might not have felt compelled to speak on it at that point, and there might be some things that he wasn’t comfortable talking about at that point — things that I didn’t know about until recently. . . .
“I know that I’m kind of being vague on that, but I think there’s some things that have come out in the book that better answer that question about why he wasn’t comfortable about speaking out on it two years ago,” Myers said. “There’s going to be things in there regarding that situation, that wouldn’t have been appropriate for him to discuss two years ago, where he wasn’t comfortable discussing two years ago, but just feels differently now.”
Fine, but why not say it now? Why not share what he knows instead of using it to tease a book that won’t be published until August 2022? He’s not playing for any team, and there’s no reason to think that he imminently will be offered a contract to do so.
The simple truth is that he wants people to buy the book and read about it there. The simple reality is that, once the advance copies are printed and circulated in the coming months, the first thing people will look for is whatever it is that he has to say about the workplace environment and culture. And whatever he says about the workplace environment will end up on the pages of the Post and elsewhere. Unless the publisher keeps the book completely under wraps before publication, what Griffin knows will be getting out.
So, again, why not just do the right thing and say what you know now, at a time when the story has lingering relevance?
As Myers acknowledged, it’s definitely a valid question. His answer to it, frankly, was not.