Female employees of the Washington Redskins – some of whom signed nondisclosure agreements – are alleging systemic sexual harassment and a hostile work environment with the NFL team currently weighing a name change.
Emily Applegate, 31, and 14 other women made the allegations to The Washington Post as the team has announced a pending name change after a review of the Redskins moniker determined it was racially insensitive to Native Americans.
The team has hired Washington, D.C., attorney Beth Wilkinson of Wilkinson Walsh "to conduct a thorough independent review of this entire matter and help the team set new employee standards for the future," according to the report.
"The Washington Redskins football team takes issues of employee conduct seriously," the team wrote in a statement.
"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."
Most of the women spoke to the team anonymously, alleging various hostile work environment acts from 2006 to 2019, including profane tirades by a former COO, misogynistic comments, and being told to wear sexually explicit clothes "so the men in the room have something to look at," according to Applegate to the Post.
"It was the most miserable experience of my life," Applegate told the Post of her year as marketing coordinator, having left in 2015. "And we all tolerated it because we knew if we complained — and they reminded us of this — there were 1,000 people out there who would take our job in a heartbeat."
The Post interviewed 40 current and former staff members, detailing the series of alleged abuses.
Since the allegations were presented to the team, radio voice Larry Michael and director of pro personnel Alex Santos have "abruptly departed," according to the report.
Among the detailed allegations levied by Applegate were some at former COO Mitch Gershman, who denied them to the Post in a phone interview.
"I barely even remember who she is," he told the Post. "I thought the Redskins was a great place to work.
"I would apologize to anyone who thought that I was verbally abusive."
Among those not accused in the investigation were team owner Daniel Snyder or longtime president Bruce Allen.
"I would assume Bruce [Allen] knew because he sat 30 feet away from me," Applegate told the Post, adding "and saw me sobbing at my desk several times every week."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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