A Washington Redskins cheerleader revealed some disturbing allegations about the requirements of being a cheerleader for the team.
The unnamed cheerleader claimed that several women were sent to a random house for a small group of men, and compared their treatement to that of escorts, according to a wide-ranging profile by the New York Times.
The New York Times reported the following on the situation:
Several years ago, she said, she and five teammates were told to drive to an address the Redskins had given them. To their surprise, it was not a business — it was a house. Inside, there was no party, no charity event, or even a large gathering of people. There were seven men in their 40s who quickly sized up the cheerleaders.
“O.K., who’s single and who’s married?” said the homeowner, according to the former cheerleader.
The men were drinking and asked the women to join in, but they declined. Then the women did a two-minute dance for the men in the basement and spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the house or having awkward conversations with the men while they were watching an N.F.L. game on TV.
The Redskins denied any knowledge of the situation, allegations or allowing situations where their cheerleaders were made uncomfortable.
This situation sounds terrible, and the Redskins have no excuse if it’s true. There’s not a reason or an excuse on the planet to justify sending a small group of women to a random guy’s house with a few other men there. That’s the type of decision that should get a supervisor fired.
It’s one thing to send a group of cheerleaders to a massive and public event, such as a charity event. That makes sense, and there’s no real argument against doing it.
However, there’s a substantial difference between sending a group of women to a very public event and sending them to a private residence, especially when there isn’t any real event happening at the private house. It was allegedly just a few guys drinking beers. Again, hardly an acceptable environment to send a group of unprotected women.
I don’t know how anybody could see what we’ve seen the past few weeks out of the NFL and it’s cheerleaders and still want the job. Everything about the role seems terrible. Roger Goodell and the league needs to figure out something quickly.