Attorneys Lisa Banks and Debra Katz have sent a strongly worded letter to House Committee on Oversight and Reform ranking member James Comer (R-Kentucky) after Republicans distributed 57 “sexualized and salacious photographs” of Washington Commanders’ cheerleaders found in Bruce Allen’s emails to former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden.
Per the lawyers, the former cheerleaders were “humiliated and incensed by the GOP’s reckless dissemination of these photographs,” which were released to Republican staff members and various media outlets last week. The faces of the cheerleaders were blacked out.
Republicans on the Oversight Comm circulated a memo last week containing more than 2doz images of nude & nearly nude women they say were culled from Bruce Allen's emails. Today, lawyers representing some of the those women responded. Full story: https://t.co/da4li8ytPa @john_keim
— Tisha Thompson (@TishaESPN) December 13, 2022
Banks told ESPN that it was “outrageous” to include the photos in the documents and that it was “unnecessary, inappropriate, and unprofessional.”
Per ESPN, a committee Republican aide said the pictures will not be part of the Congressional record of the investigation into the Commanders, Allen, and owner Dan Snyder.
A spokeswoman for the Democrats on the committee told ESPN that “Our report exposed what is possible when those in power work to maintain a culture that glorifies sexual harassment. No organization should ever disseminate sexualized images of an individual without their permission, least of all a body charged with protecting women from sexual harassment and retaliation in the workplace. We hope Committee Republicans will hear the concerns of the women pictured in their report and take overdue steps to protect their privacy.”
Including the photos in these documents was traumatizing to those involved, said Melanie Coburn, a former Washington cheerleader.
“It’s more about when [Allen] got access to these and what state these photos were in,” Coburn said. “In some body paint, if it’s not touched up, it’s very revealing.
“These women are devastated again. They feel powerless, they feel silenced and they’re retraumatized.”
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform released its findings from its investigation into the Commanders franchise over allegations of sexual harassment, misogyny, and financial fraud, saying “sexual harassment, bullying, and other toxic conduct pervaded the workplace at the Washington Commanders and were perpetuated by a culture of fear instilled” by Snyder.
[ESPN]
