Washington NFL team officials circulated lewd video of cheerleader swimsuit ‘outtakes’: report

Officials with the Washington Football Team allegedly circulated explicit “outtakes” of the team’s cheerleaders filmed during the making of a 2008 swimsuit calendar without their knowledge or consent, former staffers told The Washington Post.

The footage contains 10 minutes of outtakes involving the women accidentally, briefly exposing their nipples, which former lead broadcaster Larry Michael allegedly referred to as “the good bits,” according to former staffer Brad Baker.

Baker alleged to the Post that Michael instructed staffers to make the video for team owner Dan Snyder.

“Larry said something to the effect of, ‘We have a special project that we need to get done for the owner today: He needs us to get the good bits of the behind-the-scenes video from the cheerleader shoot onto a DVD for him,’” Baker, who was a broadcast producer for the team at the time, told the newspaper.

Michael denied he asked staffers to make the video, according to the Post. 

“Nothing can be further from the truth. I was never asked to nor did I ask someone to compile videos as you described,” Michael said.

The Post obtained a copy of the video and a similar one containing comprising outtakes from the cheerleaders’ 2010 shoot in the Dominican Republic.

A former broadcasting producer for the team recalled being directed to make a DVD of the 2010 footage titled “For Executive Meeting.” The producer did not remember if Snyder was specifically mentioned.

Snyder denied the allegations in a statement, accusing the Post of writing a “hit job” and saying “it is clear that there are other negative agendas at work in this reporting.” In the statement, the team owner also conceded being “too hands off as an owner” and “allow[ing] others to have day-to-day control to the detriment of our organization.”

Statement from Dan Snyder in response to the allegations in today’s Washington Post: pic.twitter.com/vuvfUAO4q0

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 26, 2020

The report comes just over a month after 15 women reported sexual harassment or verbal abuse while working for the team between 2006 and 2019. None of them accused either Snyder or longtime ex-team president Bruce Allen of misconduct but said they were likely aware of the alleged activity.