Washington Football Team owner Dan Snyder contests article in statement

Pursuant to the release of another critical Washington Post article, Washington Football Team owner Dan Snyder has released a statement.

The culture of the Washington Football Team has been at the forefront for the majority of the 2020 offseason, for a multitude of reasons. At first, it was the rebound from the erosional Bruce Allen era that dominated the headlines. But in early July, a Washington Post article was released, which detailed deeper strains on accountability and behavior norms.

The article in July described a workplace environment rife with sexual harassment, objectification, and dehumanizing practices, and earlier today, a similar article was released, expanding on the developments that were initially made public in the July post. Today’s article, however, was different, in the sense that Dan Snyder was specifically named as an instigator, allegedly propositioning a team cheerleader to engage in activities with a friend at his suite.

Mere hours after the release of this article, Snyder released a statement to the public. In this statement, Snyder both takes a degree of personal accountability for the cultural erosion under his watch and contests the article for what he alleges to be inaccuracies.

Below, the statement can be read in its entirety, passed along by NFL insider Adam Schefter:

In his six-paragraph statement, Snyder starts by reiterating that the conduct described by the Washington Post article has no place in society. He then admits to being “too hands-off” as an owner, and emphasizes that changes have been made in 2020 to improve the team’s culture.

Snyder then turns to face the Washington Post article, describing the piece as a “hit job”, and accuses the Post story of relying on unnamed sources (In the Washington Post article, it is clarified that most of the women included requested to remain anonymous, either due to non-disclosure agreements or for fear of retaliation).

Snyder goes on to accuse the Washington Post of prioritizing a negative agenda over the truth, and calls out one named source in particular — Tiffany Bacon Scourby — for failing to bring knowledge of her incident to team officials when it occurred. Snyder also addresses the lewd video referenced in the Washington Post, and says that it was not found after “an extensive review of [the team’s] archives”.

Snyder concluded his statement by criticizing the Washington Post article for being “riddled with questionable and unnamed sources”, and emphasized that the article does not provide an accurate reflection of the Washington Football Team today.

It’s almost certain that this will not be the final development in this saga, but the two sides appear to have differing accounts of the truth. The Washington Post article made clear that the video’s authenticity had been proven, and had multiple women corroborate most of the reports within the article, but Snyder has claimed otherwise, personally clashing with the journalism outlet.

The claims made in the two Washington Post articles are very serious, and should not be discounted without the conduction of an independent investigation. It remains to be seen how much has to happen for the NFL to get involved, but Snyder, a previously reclusive owner, coming out to contest the Post’s claims, is an unforeseen development.