The Dallas Cowboys paid a multimillion dollar settlement to members of their cheerleading squad after allegations that a senior team executive filmed them in the AT&T Stadium locker rooms, documents obtained by ESPN said.
In a report published on Wednesday, ESPN said that the team paid a total of US$2.4 million in the settlement, which involved four cheerleaders.
One of the women alleges that she saw Richard Dalrymple, the Cowboys’ long-time senior vice president for public relations and communications, covertly filming them with his iPhone while they undressed after an event in 2015.
Photo: AP
Dalrymple used his security keycard to enter the locker room through a back door, but says he was unaware that the cheerleaders were present.
The documents showed that Dalrymple is also accused of taking an “upskirt” image of Charlotte Jones Anderson, a senior team executive who is also the daughter of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
The second incident is alleged to have occurred at the 2015 NFL draft.
Dalrymple has denied the allegations against him.
“People who know me, coworkers, the media and colleagues, know who I am and what I’m about,” Dalrymple said in a statement on Monday. “I understand the very serious nature of these claims and do not take them lightly. The accusations are, however, false. One was accidental and the other simply did not happen. Everything that was alleged was thoroughly investigated years ago, and I cooperated fully.”
Despite the settlement, the Cowboys said that they investigated the allegations, but found no wrongdoing.
“The organization took these allegations extremely seriously and moved immediately to thoroughly investigate this matter,” said Jim Wilkinson, a communications consultant for the Cowboys. “The investigation was handled consistent with best legal and HR [human resource] practices, and the investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing.”
ESPN said that Dalrymple was issued a formal written warning in October 2015, although the team has not said what the warning was for.
Dalrymple continued to work for the Cowboys for another six years, before he retired after 32 years as Jerry Jones’ chief spokesman.
His retirement came a few weeks after ESPN started interviewing people for its investigation.
The four cheerleaders involved in the settlement either declined to comment to ESPN or did not respond to interview requests.
ESPN said that the terms of the settlement included a nondisclosure agreement.
However, one former cheerleader not involved in the case said that the alleged incident was known about at the time.
“It hurt my heart because I know how much it affected the people who were involved,” the former cheerleader said. “It was a very ... shut the book, don’t talk about it, this person is going to stay in his position... They just made it go away.”
The treatment of cheerleaders has come under scrutiny several times in recent years. In 2018, the New York Times reported Washington’s NFL team required its cheerleaders to go topless during photo shoots and act as personal escorts for team sponsors.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS