Three NFL Network analysts are suspended
Hall of Famer Faulk is among those tied to sexual misconduct lawsuit
NEW YORK — Hall of Fame player Marshall Faulk and two other NFL Network analysts were suspended after a woman who worked as a wardrobe stylist at the network accused them of sexual misconduct in a lawsuit.
The NFL on Tuesday identified the three as Faulk, Ike Taylor and Heath Evans. They have been “suspended from their duties at NFL Network pending an investigation into these allegations,” league spokesman Brian McCarthy said.
Jami Cantor described several sexually inappropriate encounters with the three retired players and others who have worked for NFL Network, according to court documents first reported by Bloomberg .
Former NFL Network executive Eric Weinberger, former NFL Network analysts Donovan McNabb, Eric Davis and Hall of Famer Warren Sapp, and former NFL Network employee Marc Watts also are named in the lawsuit.
Weinberger is president of the Bill Simmons Media Group and was placed on leave, according to a statement given to the New York Times. McNabb and Davis now work as ESPN radio contributors.
“We are investigating, and McNabb and Davis will not appear on our networks as that investigation proceeds,” ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said Tuesday.
None of the men named immediately responded to messages seeking comment from The Associated Press.
Cantor worked at NFL Network for a decade until she was fired in October 2016. In the suit against NFL Enterprises, she alleges age and sex discrimination, sexual harassment that created a hostile work environment, wrongful termination and defamation.
“The supervisors knew about it, the supervisors observed it,” Cantor’s attorney, Laura Horton, told The New York Times on Monday. “It was insidious in this particular environment.”
Cantor filed an amended complaint Monday to the original suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in October.
Cantor said in the suit that Faulk fondled and groped her and asked “deeply personal and invasive questions” about her sex life. Cantor said she received inappropriate and sexually explicit texts from Weinberger, McNabb, Taylor and Evans.
“It was a severe, pervasive, sexually charged work
environment,” Horton said. “There was a lot of stuff going on. The texts and the video and the photographs, I’ve got them. It’s not like a he-said, she-said sort of thing. I’ve got documentary evidence.”
Faulk starred for the Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams. The running back was the NFL’s MVP in 2000 and won a Super Bowl with the Rams in the 2000 game. He retired in 2005.
Taylor spent 12 seasons as a cornerback with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Evans, a fullback, was in the league for 10 seasons, mostly with Seattle, New England and New Orleans.
The lawsuit and suspensions are the latest in a wave of sexual misconduct allegations against prominent men in politics, entertainment and media.
COACH BANNED: In Chicago, the group that trains U.S. Olympic gymnasts announced on Tuesday that it has banned one of the top coaches in Illinois after an investigation revealed he had violated its code of conduct by engaging in a sexual relationship with an athlete.
According to a brief news release, Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics put Todd Gardiner on the list of permanently ineligible coaches. The release said that Gardiner was placed on the list “based on a complaint and following an investigation and hearing process” that found he violated sections of the Code of Ethical Conduct that prohibits having a sexual relationship with an athlete.
USA Gymnastics spokeswoman Leslie King would not provide any details about the relationship, including when it occurred. The Illinois Gymnastics Institute in the Chicago suburb of Westmont did not return calls for comment about Gardiner’s status with the facility. But King said the institute is a USA Gymnastics member and cannot be associated with Gardiner in any way.
A call to a phone listing for a Todd Gardiner was not immediately returned.
NETHERLANDS: In The Hague, Netherlands, a report commissioned by the Dutch Olympic Committee says urgent action must be taken to tackle widespread sexual abuse and harassment in sports in the Netherlands.
The report, published Tuesday, says a survey of just under 2,000 people who participated in sports before the age of 18 showed that 12 percent of youngsters experienced some form of sexual harassment, including 4 percent who suffered serious sexual abuse or rape.
Klaas de Vries, the head of the investigative commission that wrote the report, says cases of such abuse rarely lead to effective action.