Ex-Washington NFL Employees Detail Sexual Harassment, Misogynistic Behavior

As part of a multi-platform investigation, ESPN shed more light on the reportedly toxic atmosphere behind the scenes within the Washington Football Team. 

Thursday's episode of ESPN Daily (via Chris Bumbaca of USA Today) shared a portion of an interview between Outside The Lines' Jeremy Schaap and Rachel Engleson, who was a director in Washington's marketing and client services department:

"It's hard, working there. You just know that depending on the certain way you dress there's gonna be comments made about what you're wearing, how you look. When you walk through the office, you're just kind of waiting for the comments to come from male colleagues. I would get inappropriate comments about my hair, my outfit, how I looked, in public, in front of my own clients."

Alicia Klein worked as an intern in 2010. She recounted when a Washington player repeatedly asked her to go out with him, following her to her car at one point.

"How am I supposed to do my job when I have somebody waiting for me in the parking lot?" Klein said. "And I have my colleagues telling me, 'Oh, just wait. Couple days they'll get tired and then they'll chase someone else.'"

Regarding the broader environment, Klein, former video producer Megan Imbert and former cheerleader Tiffany Bacon Scourby all said on Outside The Lines they were instructed not to look Snyder in the eye when walking past him or to walk in a different direction entirely.

Klein said in one instance a coworker told her she wasn't to wander around and couldn't use the bathroom because Snyder was present in the building.

The Washington Post's Will Hobson and Liz Clarke first spoke with 15 women who worked for the team over various spells from 2006 to 2019.

Larry Michael, the team's former senior vice president of content, and former director of pro personnel Alex Santos were the most prominent Washington officials named in the report published in July.

The Post's investigation found Michael "routinely discussed the physical appearance of female colleagues in sexual and disparaging overtones." Santos, meanwhile, was said to have "[made] inappropriate remarks about their bodies and asking them whether they were romantically interested in him" when speaking with coworkers and women who covered the team.

The investigation didn't make any direct allegations against Snyder, but the women interviewed questioned whether he was unaware of the organization's distasteful atmosphere.

Hobson, Clarke, Beth Reinhard and Dalton Bennett published a report for the Post on Aug. 26 that was more sharply critical of Snyder.

Brad Baker, a video producer who worked with Michael, said Michael told staff members to make a video of outtakes from a Washington cheerleader photo shoot. The video featured lewd moments, including when the women's breasts were accidentally exposed.

According to Baker, Michael indicated the video was 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 said.

In another allegation from the investigation, Scourby said she was talking with Snyder at a 2004 charity event when he motioned to one of his friends and said she should go up to a hotel room with him.

Former cheerleader director Donald Wells said Scourby "was more or less propositioned" based on what she told him had happened.

Susan Miller, a former leader of an employee referral agency in Virginia, said she eventually stopped recommending the team as an employer based on how people were treated within the franchise.

"[Snyder] denigrated people," Miller said. "He treated women like servants."

Snyder subsequently issued a statement refuting the allegations made against him by the Washington Post investigation. He also said the piece was "riddled with questionable and unnamed sources, decades-old allegations and is not a reflection of The Washington Football Team today."

Following the initial Washington Post piece, the team brought in Beth Wilkinson from the Wilkinson Walsh law firm to lead an investigation into the organization.

Wilkinson was originally to report to Snyder, but the NFL has since stepped in to oversee the investigation.