Instead, Snyder’s response – after refusing repeated interview requests before the story was published – was cover-up. He made a statement tweeted by Adam Schefter from ESPN. Where should I start? I would say with the women wronged, but the only mention by Snyder is to question the validity of their claims.
The allegations in the story are more than just dry. You mean it. Snyder certainly thinks he confronted them directly because in the first paragraph of his answer he says, “I take full responsibility for the culture of our organization.” And then he distances himself from creating that culture.
It’s truly breathtaking how a boss can be accused of promoting such an environment – repeatedly over the years by women who knew and didn’t know each other, many of whom bravely spoke of their experiences – and essentially dismissing the allegations as either relics Past or invalid because a particular accuser failed to provide her or his name. Anyway, all the brave people who did it, people who understood – maybe even expected – Retribution, but spoke out anyway.
But this is how you would react if the walls got closer, which is clearly the case with Snyder. The strategy here is reprehensible: make a passing hint of responsibility, then attack and deny, deny and attack without mentioning the people who were hurt along the way.
It is noticeable that the team – Snyder’s team – made a separate statement This included the following: “Our first concern is the safety of our teammates, and we have encouraged all employees who have had similar experiences now or in the past to report this immediately.” How hard was that? It is both legally logical and logical emotionally empathetic – a basic human response.
But Snyder himself didn’t say that because he was too busy feeling and beating up the corner walls. There seems to be a two-step strategy when it comes to the owner: say that the allegations are out of date and therefore invalid; and admit that I’ve distanced myself from the franchise as if to say, “If I hadn’t been on my yacht, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Both rejections are hideous. Do some of the allegations go back decades? Absolutely, and what stands out is the story of ex-cheerleader Tiffany Bacon Scourby, who said Snyder asked her to go to a hotel suite with one of his closest friends at a 2004 charity event. Snyder’s rejection brought not only a claim that the interaction did not take place, but also another firing due to Scourby’s “failure to report this alleged incident to anyone in 2004 during her 8 years as a cheerleader or anyone on the team.” Time in the last 16 years “, it doesn’t have to have happened.
If Snyder believes such an exchange did not take place, it is his right to defend himself. The claim to an arbitrary limitation period is, at best, flimsy. Women who endure such hostile environments can live in fear that raising objections could affect their ability to rise up and thrive. This is not just for cheerleaders. This is for videographers and assistants as well as PR interns and marketing managers. That fear was clearly part of Ashburn’s culture, so the disappointment shouldn’t be that Scourby didn’t answer, but that the environment Snyder created made her – and others – uncomfortable doing so.
Do you understand the absolute fear these women would have if they shared their experiences because who knows how they will be occupied by the men in power? The men who have already humiliated them by commenting on their legs or blouses.
Any woman – any employee – who steps up and says the environment is unprofessional and unacceptable should at least be heard. Snyder’s testimony shows that this will not be the case.
Now to the absence question: Snyder said in his statement to Schefter that he should have been more.
“Admittedly, I was too straightforward as the owner and allowed others to have daily control to the detriment of our organization,” he wrote. “In the future I’ll be more involved.”
Put aside the reaction any Washington football fan would have to the idea of Snyder defect participation is the problem.
Better do the math. From 2008 to 2011, four seasons, I covered Snyder’s team and drove to the Ashburn facility every day where players and coaches were available. During this time, Snyder was in the building almost every day, announced by his car parked on the side of the road next to the offices, when he was not there for “Mr. Snyder. “He was there training. He was there overseeing the culture.
These were the very days when former members of the video department claimed they had been instructed to do special outtake roles of the cheerleading swimsuit calendar footage, suggesting that the women involved had no idea they had submitted to themselves .
If Snyder was “too straightforward” lately, it would include just over two years hiring a respected manager, Brian Lafemina, as the team’s chief operating officer. One employee, Rachel Engleson, who rose from intern to senior director of marketing and customer service, complained to Lafemina’s top two MPs about the constant harassment of Larry Michael, the team’s radio play-by-play voice, everyone internal tasks monitored media.
Lafemina’s MPs were reportedly appalled by Michael’s reported behavior. But what was the result? Lafemina, one of the organization’s only hopes for change, was fired just eight months into his tenure – not because of the culture he was trying to create, but because the revenue had fallen on his watch. If Snyder was so far away that he didn’t know what was going on, why was he committed enough to fire a leader whose people were committed to change?
That brings us to today and tomorrow and the next day.
“I spent the day talking to our @WashingtonNFL family.” tweeted Jason Wright, the new team president hired Snyder earlier this month. “We all feel burdened by the difficult-to-read reports. We are now creating a new culture, we will act quickly and decisively, and we will lift the severity that my colleagues feel today. Our journey begins now. “
This is spot on in tone and content, and it is striking that it is so different from the owner’s own words. Perhaps with fresh eyes and an outsider perspective, Wright is the person running the franchise on this journey.
But Daniel Snyder has shown time and time again that it is a journey he is not ready for.
The environment he created and even maintained should be enough to get his co-owners to clean their hands off him. Snyder’s answer – full of denial, without empathy – makes the situation worse. The dysfunction in Ashburn isn’t just in the field. It’s ubiquitous and anchored at every level of the franchise. Over the years there has only been one constant: the owner who has to go.
