Owner Daniel Snyder Accused Of Inappropriate Conduct Relating To Washington Cheerleaders

Washington Football Team owner Daniel Snyder has been accused of inappropriate conduct in regard to the team’s cheerleaders amid the organization’s investigation into allegations from 15 female former employees of sexual harassment

A former production manager for the Redskins Broadcast Network, Brad Baker, told The Washington Post that he was instructed by broadcaster Larry Michael to use clips of partially nude team cheerleaders from a 2008 swimsuit calendar shoot to make a video for Snyder.

“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,’” Baker told the Post.

Michael retired as Washington’s play-by-play voice after 16 years just before the sexual harassment allegations against members of the organization were made public.

One former member of the team's production staff said Larry Michael requested a DVD of video outtakes from a 2008 topless cheerleader photo shoot intended for Snyder, an allegation Michael adamantly denies. Snyder offered no comment. https://t.co/LtSLlOD1ur
— Jake Russell (@_JakeRussell) August 26, 2020

A former president of a Va. employee referral agency said in 2000 or 2001 Snyder quickly fired a woman she referred to the team bc he thought she looked “frumpy” or “dowdy.”

“He’d just passed her in the hall once … and then just said, ‘Get rid of her,’ ” https://t.co/LtSLlOD1ur
— Jake Russell (@_JakeRussell) August 26, 2020

Michael denied the accusations to the Post, as did former Washington vice president of production Tim DeLaney. Baker said DeLaney was involved in making the video.

“I was never asked to create an outtakes video, and I have no knowledge of anyone creating one or even being asked to create one,” said DeLaney, who currently works for the Arizona Cardinals. “I certainly would have remembered that conversation had it happened.”

One former cheerleader, Tiffany Bacon Scourby, claims Snyder invited her to go to a hotel room with his friend so “they could get to know each other,” the Post reports. Three friends backed up Scourby’s claim.

“It was like fresh meat to a pack of wolves every time a new pack of interns would come in,” a former female employee told the Post. “It was like a frat house, with men lined up in the lobby watching women walk in and out. You constantly felt there were eyes on you.”

The Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 13 that minority partners of the Washington Football Team are pressuring Snyder to sell the franchise. FedEx Corp. CEO Fred Smith, Black Diamond Capital chairman Robert Rothman and NVR Inc. board chairman Dwight Schar own approximately 40% of the team, according to the report.