With the #MeToo movement in full swing in 2017, the NFL Network, ESPN, and Bill Simmons' The Ringer, suspended five on-air commentators at the end of 2017. Former football players and current Hall of Famers Marshall Faulk, Heath Evans, and Ike Taylor: suspended for groping, sending inappropriate pictures, and making sexually explicit comments. Former NFL Network executive producer Eric Weinberger (the President of Bill Simmons media group): suspended for sending nude photos of himself, sending sexually explicit texts, and inappropriate touching. Former player, a now analyst, Donovan McNabb, was suspended for texts of a sexual nature. 



The suspensions followed allegations of sexual harassment by a former coworker, Jami Cantor, in a lawsuit first filed in October 2017 claiming wrongful termination. According to Cantor’s pleadings, she complained about the sexual advances to Marc Watts, the league’s talent coordinator, who did nothing. Instead, he said, “It’s part of the job when you look the way you do.” Cantor claims she was terminated after making these complaints and raising other workplace concerns, alleging, among other things, age and sex discrimination, sexual harassment, a hostile work environment, and wrongful termination.  The case was settled in August, 2018.



Former ESPN host and legal analyst Adrienne Lawrence filed a sexual harassment lawsuit 2018 in a Connecticut federal court claiming, “ESPN is, and always has been, a company rife with misogyny.” Lawrence alleges she was fired in retaliation for complaining to human resources about the harassment. As reported, she claims, “Male executives and employees at ESPN kept ‘scoreboards’ naming female colleagues they wanted to have sex with and openly watched pornography on their computers.” Lawrence published a book this May called "Staying in the Game: The Playbook for Beating Workplace Sexual Harassment"— an excellent resource for women.



In July, 2017, Fox Sports fired executive Jamie Horowitz after allegations of sexual misconduct; former major league catcher Gregg Zaun was fired from his job as an analyst in July 2017 after inappropriate behavior; former NFL quarterback Warren Moon was accused of harassment by an assistant at his sports marketing firm in a lawsuit filed December 2017 which settled in August, 2018; and Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson announced plans to sell his franchise after news broke that he was accused of sexual harassment and racist slurs in the workplace. According to reports, the Carolina Panthers settled quickly with cash payments and non-disclosure agreements.  



In April 2018, the New York Times published an article highlighting cheerleaders from various professional teams and their sexual harassment experiences. Reporting was not an option for fear of retribution and risking their spot on the squad. According to sources: “…groping and sexual harassment are part of the job, reporting that teams exploit cheerleaders by sending them to pregame tailgating and other gatherings where they are subjected to offensive sexual comments and unwanted touches by fans.” Another story reported a photoshoot in 2013 in Costa Rica, where some of the Washington Redskins cheerleaders were required to be topless, though the calendar photographs would not show nudity.



When cheerleaders started to file complaints, including against the Miami Dolphins, the New Orleans Saints, and the Houston Texans, NFL teams abruptly decided to eliminate their cheerleaders. As of 2020, six teams do not have cheerleading squads: Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The NBA followed suit. By mid July, 2019, 30 teams decided to cancel their cheerleaders in favor of “‘family-friendly’ co-ed “hype teams” featuring tumbling and acrobatics, including the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks. Maybe it was time to rid the teams of over-sexualized dancers and distracting eye candy during the games. The writing was more likely on the wall—there would be a flood of lawsuits and complaints filed for sexual harassment and unequal pay. 



Fast forward to 2020. The allegations made by 15 former female employees against the Washington Redskins and spanning more than a decade from 2006 to 2019 sound very familiar: Unwelcome advances, inappropriate touching, sexually charged comments regarding the physical appearance of female colleagues, text messages of a sexual nature, requests that women wear tight and revealing clothes and flirt with clients to help close sales, verbal abuse, and threats not to complain or lose their coveted jobs desired “by thousands”. According to many of these women, policies, and procedures to protect against sexual harassment and a Human Resources Department to handle complaints effectively were nonexistent. Human resources staff consisted of one full-time employee responsible for the team’s more than 220 employees. 



It is troubling that three years after the launch of #MeToo, nothing has changed for the Washington Redskins. We suspect the same is true today for many other organizations. As noted in our book 'Play Nice - Playground Rules for Respect in the Workplace', the consequences of a sexual harassment scandal can be quite devastating. When #MeToo launched, every company and organization should have immediately conducted internal or outside reviews of their sexual harassment policies and procedures, including interviewing employees for a culture check, to allow for needed corrective action. The owner of The Washington Redskins, Dan Snyder, and former long-running team president, Bruce Allen, were not personally implicated by these 15 women. However, they likely knew of the sexist behavior and verbal abuse that continued and was tolerated for more than a decade, fostering a sexist and toxic culture. Claiming as owner or president that you did not know about any problem is not sufficient to avoid the potential reputational and monetary consequences. The owner of the Dallas Mavericks found out the hard way. He claims he asked his then HR director (Buddy Pittman) if he was aware of any issues, however, merely asking the question, was not sufficient. As it turned out, Dallas Maverick’s corporate office suffered from a pervasive sexual harassment problem, not contained even after Pittman’s hiring to update its organization’s sexual harassment policies, which was before Cuban’s ownership. The fallout was painful for the Dallas Maverick’s organization. Thursday night, during Cuban's "Ask Me Anything with Mark Cuban" radio show on SiriusXM, Cuban had this message for Dan Snyder and the Redskins: "If you know Dan Snyder, if you’re involved with the Redskins, if you connect to them, tell Dan and tell his senior management you’ve got to just recognize what you did right and what you did wrong,” Cuban said. “You have to accept the mistakes you made. That’s painful. I made a lot of mistakes. And that’s the only way this is going to get resolved."



The Washington Redskins have responded to the allegations: “The…football team takes issues of employee conduct seriously….While we do not speak to specific employee situations publicly, when new allegations of conduct are brought forward that are contrary to these policies, we address them promptly,” the team said. 



What action is the Redskin’s organization taking in response? Several employees have abruptly departed, including Alex Santos, the team’s director of pro personnel, and Larry Michael, the club’s longtime radio voice. The club has also contracted outside D.C. firm, Wilkinson Walsh, to conduct a thorough independent investigation and assist with new employee standards going forward. We ask, how about releasing the remaining accusers from their NDA's so they can come forward publicly without retribution? 



According to an excerpt from our book Play Nice: “As the owner or head of a company, learn more about the process for determining whether there is a sexual harassment problem. When was the last time the company did an anonymous culture survey? What were the results? If issues were identified, how were they handled? Were policies and procedures updated to address noted issues going forward? Did the company identify offenders and take action? What if the company tightened its policies and procedures and provided incentives for reporting, compliance, and enforcement? What about real support and encouragement for victims, hiring more women in leadership positions to improve the male-dominated culture, and implementing better controls to establish equal status in worth and pay?” 



What if anything is the NFL going to do? It is time for real action and guidelines for team owners to follow, including requiring all teams to have regular all staff training for sexual harassment prevention, unconscious bias, and anti-racism, effective mechanisms to report sexual harassment without retribution, and proper staff to handle and process complaints. 



Bottom line: If a company’s work culture can be changed with swift and meaningful action, morale and employee performance are likely to improve and, eventually, positively impact the organization's health, prosperity and reputation. 



Avoid the pitfalls of a #MeToo scandal. Take the time to hit that pause button and evaluate your work culture for toxic masculinity, sexual harassment, and racism. Educating employees and company leaders regularly and effectively will likely promote a more healthy workplace of dignity and respect and ultimately improve the bottom line.  Try our book Play Nice to educate both women AND men on how to deal with sexual harassment immediately when it occurs. Play Nice reviews essential tools to encourage women to draw a line of respect and professionalism and help male and female bystanders stand up and say something. The intervention of men is especially important. Men will listen to men. 



We should reward #upstanders and encourage companies to support #MeToo and handle sexual harassment violations with transparency, respect, responsibility, and accountability. We will then move the needle and #changetheculture to a more healthy and prosperous environment, free from #abuse and #workplacesexualharassment.



#TimesUp. Let’s #playnice at work and stop #workplacesexualharassment. For more info, please join us at the www.thesandboxseries.com.