MOON DENIES WOMAN’S CLAIMS

SEATTLE» Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon denied Thursday that he sexually harassed a former assistant.

Moon did an extensive radio interview on KIRO-FM to address claims of sexual assault brought in a lawsuit by Wendy Haskell.

“A lot of women have held a lot of these feelings in for a long time, and are coming out and expressing these feelings, and they should be applauded for that,” Moon said. “But in this particular situation, in my case, it just doesn’t apply.”

Haskell filed the lawsuit in Orange County, Calif., this month, asserting that Moon made “unwanted and unsolicited” sexual advances while she worked for Sports 1 Marketing. Moon is the co-founder and president of the company.

Moon said Thursday he had a friendship with Haskell before she was hired as his assistant last summer and that their relationship was never sexual.

“Our relationship kind of escalated over the last year or so and became more of just a friendship; we basically became like really close companions,” Moon said. “But we have been very, very close. We’ve shared a lot of things; we’ve talked a lot; we’ve been a lot of different places together; we’ve traveled together; we’ve done a lot of different things. So that’s one thing that people don’t know. There was a pre-existing relationship before she ever started working for me.”

The lawsuit alleges that Haskell was forced to sleep in the same bed with Moon on business trips while wearing lingerie.

In the interview, Moon admitted they had shared a hotel bed on trips but said nothing sexual occurred. He said Haskell was never forced to wear lingerie.

Footnotes.

The NFL made it clear it isn’t forcing Panthers owner Jerry Richardson to sell the team while he is under investigation for sexual and racial misconduct in the workplace. NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said during a conference call that “there was no pressure from the league on Mr. Richardson” to sell his team. … The Saints placed Kenny Vaccaro on injured reserve, ending the starting safety’s season. Vaccaro had been in and out of the lineup with groin injuries since a Week 9 victory over Tampa Bay on Nov. 5. … Vikings left tackle Riley Reiff’s sprained ankle has improved, and the team listed him as questionable to play at Green Bay. Reiff practiced on a limited basis Thursday, after missing the previous game. — The Associated Press