The latest disturbing sexual harassment allegations are against famed former NCAA, CFL and NFL quarterback and current Seattle Seahawks’ broadcaster Warren Moon (seen above during agent Leigh Steinberg’s 2017 Super Bowl party). Moon’s former executive assistant at his Sports 1 Marketing firm filed a lawsuit against him this week.
Update: Moon has now said he’ll take a leave of absence from Seahawks’ broadcasts, with Brock Huard and Dave Wyman filling in:
Warren Moon will take a leave of absence from Seahawks' broadcasts after sexual-harassment lawsuit, the team announces in a statement.
Full story: https://t.co/YCcVNRk7Mh pic.twitter.com/zUWLZ945EA
— The Seattle Times (@seattletimes) December 7, 2017
Craig Whitlock of The Washington Post has more on the allegations against Moon:
A California woman who worked for a sports marketing firm led by Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit alleging that the retired football star required her to wear thong underwear and share his bed during business trips.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Orange County, Calif., also alleges that Moon, 61, committed sexual battery by grabbing the woman’s crotch during a trip to Seattle this year. The suit further accuses Moon of pulling off the woman’s bathing suit after slipping a drug into her drink during a separate trip to Mexico in October.
…The plaintiff, Wendy Haskell, 32, was hired as Moon’s executive assistant in July and traveled with him on a weekly basis for speaking engagements, charity events and personal appearances, according to the lawsuit. She alleges that she was demoted by the firm in October after she complained about Moon’s sexual advances.
…According to the new lawsuit, Moon required Haskell to stay in his hotel room during business trips, sleep in the same bed and wear “skimpy thong lingerie bottoms” as nightclothes. When she protested, he replied that she had to comply to keep her job and said that “his prior assistant accepted the same arrangement,” the lawsuit states.
Moon is currently in his 13th season as a game analyst on the Seahawks’ radio team. (The team declined immediate comment to The Seattle Times Wednesday.) He’s also worked with Fox, Westwood One, and other broadcasters. Oh, and he’s on the board of trustees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So this lawsuit could have some big implications for the sports world.
Whitlock’s piece also notes that Moon has been in trouble with the law before, including a sexual harassment lawsuit from a Vikings’ cheerleader alleging he offered to pay her for sex in 1995 (settled out of court), a later 1995 arrest and assault charges after his then-wife said he slapped and choked her (he was acquitted after she testified she provoked the fight; they later divorced in 2001), and a 2007 drunk driving charge (reduced to negligent driving, led to community service). We’ll see what comes of this, but these allegations are certainly problematic for Moon, and for all of the organizations associated with him.
Dude is horrible on the Hawks game broadcasts. If this doesn’t mean he’s out, then I don’t know what it would take.
He is alright on the Hawks games but he needs some major help. He has problems with women.
He is the master of the obvious on radio analysis…and he uses the word FOOTBALL over and over and over again. Ham and egger….needs to go away for good. Brock Huard and Dave Wyman will easily surpass his work.