Thursday morning, ESPN released a bombshell report, an exhaustively researched, 8,000-word story on Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder, who remains as defiant as ever, retaliating against any and all opponents with threats of blackmail and litigation.
Like a prosperous tree, a scandal seems to sprout a new branch every week, with each subsequent limb more gnarled than the last. Yet, nothing ever sticks with Snyder and his camp growing more shameless and emboldened by the day, engaging his enemies in a never-ending game of cat and mouse. And this fight could conceivably go on forever, with no amount of bad press, no accusations salacious or sordid enough to jar Snyder from his throne.
But, as Mina Kimes articulated in a brilliant monologue on NFL Live, that shouldn’t be an excuse to stop fighting for what’s right, imploring fans, elected officials, enterprising reporters like the ones who contributed to Thursday’s exposé, and other powerbrokers with influence to hold Snyder accountable for his horrifying behavior.
“One of the reasons why Daniel Snyder is still an NFL owner, despite the fact that the criticisms and controversies section of his Wikipedia page is longer than the career section, is the fear of mutually assured destruction. Which shouldn’t be surprising, by the way, because when the government looked into Washington’s culture, they found that Snyder used these similar tactics to silence and intimidate witnesses,” Kimes said.
“It's easy to read stories like this and feel desensitized or that [all] this is futile because nothing will ever happen. But I’d really caution against that because the most important thing here, more so than how the owners view Snyder, is the fact that he was accused of enabling sexual misconduct and actually committing sexual assault himself and, in my view, has yet to face meaningful consequences.”
A league investigation last year determined that, over several years, Washington had fostered a hostile and “highly unprofessional” work environment characterized by “bullying,” “intimidation,” “demeaning language” and a general “lack of respect.” As a result, the Commanders were fined an unprecedented $10 million and Snyder agreed to step away from day-to-day responsibilities and elevated his wife, Tanya, to co-owner.
However, as detailed by ESPN’s Seth Wickersham, Don Van Natta Jr., and Tisha Thompson, Snyder still remains highly involved in team decisions, reportedly spearheading Washington’s efforts to acquire Carson Wentz from the Colts last offseason while continuing to seek funding for a new stadium.
“When they looked into Snyder and Washington’s toxic workplace culture and put out this report—pardon me—didn’t put out the report, the Wilkinson report, it was essentially covered up,” Kimes said. “Now there’s a second investigation conducted by [former SEC chairwoman] Mary Jo White and this one must come out. Because while we cannot compel the owners to push out Snyder—all of this makes that very clear—we can call for more transparency than there’s been, and we can fight off complacency, which, of course, is the flip side of corruption.”
Who knows what it will take to finally bring down Snyder, but Thursday’s dialogue, if nothing else, illustrates the need for excellent journalism, getting at the truth about Snyder.
