NFL cheerleaders told to pose topless, serve as personal escorts, report says
The Washington Redskins are under fire after a New York Times story revealed disturbing allegations about the way franchise officials have treated the team’s cheerleaders, with former cheerleaders saying the team made them vulnerable for the benefit of sponsors and big-spending ticket holders.
The Times cited five former Redskins cheerleaders who described a 2013 photo shoot for a team calendar in Costa Rica. At the shoot, according to the report, male sponsors and suite holders observed cheerleaders posing topless or in body paint. After a 14-hour day of photos and dance practice, nine cheerleaders were chosen to serve as personal escorts for the sponsors and suite holders at a nightclub. The arrangement did not include sex.
Also present at the nightclub, according to the report, were two prominent Redskins officials: senior vice president for operations Lon Rosenberg (who has since parted ways with the team) and president of business operations Dennis Greene.
Stephanie Jojokian, the director of the Redskins’ cheerleaders, denied that she forced any Redskins cheerleaders to attend the nightclub and contested the description the five cheerleaders provided.
A Redskins spokesman said the team would decline comment.
The report also detailed a 2012 mandatory “team-bonding” party on the yacht of a businessman and former suite holder named William R. Teel Jr. According to five cheerleaders the Times cited, other men were on the boat when the cheerleaders boarded, and they were given copious alcohol and encouraged to participate in suggestive dance contests.
Teel told the Times that he believed no one from the Redskins pressured cheerleaders to attend the party and “no one was disrespected.”
The report comes as the NFL’s practices toward cheerleaders have come under scrutiny. Two former cheerleaders — one with the New Orleans Saints and one with the Miami Dolphins — recently filed discrimination claims against their former teams, one on the grounds of gender discrimination, the other on gender and religious grounds.
The Times report “made me cry,” said Sara Blackwell, the Florida lawyer representing the two cheerleaders who filed discrimination cases. “It made my stomach sick. I think Roger Goodell has the power to change this and every single one of the teams, but he is choosing to not do it.”
Blackwell wants to meet with Goodell to discuss cheerleader welfare and has said Bailey Davis, the former Saints cheerleader, will drop her case for $1 if the NFL agrees to a meeting.
“The NFL statement is constantly that the cheerleaders deserve a professional environment free of discrimination and sexual harassment,” Blackwell said. “Apparently, they mean they deserve it — the NFL just has no intention to actually provide it. That’s very clear by the lack of response thus far from Goodell to the media, the cheerleaders or to our settlement demand.”
The NFL did not return a request for comment Wednesday evening. The league has maintained individual teams are responsible for policies regarding cheerleading teams and said every NFL employee deserves a respectful workplace free of discrimination.
One former Redskins cheerleader said hitting specific weights is no longer contractually obligated but that team members understand certain body proportions must be kept to remain on the team. “You know it exists,” she said. “They may not have it writing, but it exists.”
Four current Redskins cheerleaders, who spoke to The Post with team approval, described a different experience last month. They said they enjoy the camaraderie the team provides, believe the team protects their safety and do not feel pressured to attend events they do not wish to. They said the only events they attended were ones for which they volunteered. One described recent negative attention on attitudes toward cheerleaders as “frustrating,” and another called it “bizarre.”
Read this story at The Washington Post.
Redskins cheerleaders perform during a 2016 game at FedEx Field. The team is under fire after a report cited five former cheerleaders recounting a photo shoot during a 2013 trip to Costa Rica. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
The Washington Redskins cheerleaders perform during the second half of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016, in Landover, Md. The Redskins won 31-20. (AP Photo/Mark Tenally)
A Washington Redskins cheerleader performs during the first half of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Mark Tenally)