The NFL Network is trying to get a wrongful termination lawsuit by former stylist Jami Cantor (pictured) thrown out, saying she ‘consented’ to being sexually harassed by executives and on-air talent
The NFL Network is trying to get a sexual harassment lawsuit thrown out on the basis that their former stylist ‘consented’ to being groped and demeaned by on-air talent and executives.
Jami Cantor worked at the network for a decade before she was abruptly fired in October 2016, for what she says was a false accusation she stole clothing.
She filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the company this past October, accusing them of age and sex discrimination, sexual harassment and a hostile work environment.
In a court filing on January 18, NFL Enterprises, the NFL Network’s parent company, denied all of Cantor’s allegations.
They argued that the case should be thrown out because Cantor ‘approved, consented to, authorized and/or ratified’ the sexually explicit behavior.
They also say the decision to fire her was ‘legitimate, nondiscriminatory and non-retaliatory’.
The network even said that Cantor didn’t exhaust all the possible remedies available to her in the company, and that she waited too long to file a lawsuit.
To the contrary, Cantor said in her suit that when she complained about the abuse, the network only cut her hours, while putting more work on her plate.
In Cantor’s initial complaint, she said that she had been subject to verbal and physical sexual harassment at the hands of six ex-players who worked at the network and two executives.
When Cantor’s lawsuit was filed in October, two of the retired players named in the lawsuit had moved on to ESPN Radio. Donovan McNabb (left) and Eric David (right) were fired earlier this month when their new company investigated the claims
The retired players named in the suit are Marshall Faulk, Ike Taylor, Heath Evans, Donovan McNabb, Eric Davis and Warren Sapp. The executives are Eric Weinberger and Marc Watts.
After the lawsuit was filed, Faulk, Taylor and Evans were suspended pending an investigation. At the time, McNabb, Davis and Sapp had left the company.
Sapp was fired by the network back in 2015 after he was arrested for soliciting a prostitute and assault.
McNabb and Davis went on to work for ESPN radio, where they were fired earlier this month after the station looked into Cantor’s claims.
Davis, who won a Super Bowl while playing for the San Francisco 49ers, allegedly ‘grabbed Plaintiff’s behind, slid his hand between Plaintiff’s legs, and touched Plaintiff’s privates, while saying, “I can’t handle your a** it is so luscious.”‘
Cantor also claims that when she slapped Davis’ hand away during that alleged groping he ‘aggressively told Plaintiff to never push his hand away again.’
He also allegedly made a large number of lewd comments to Cantor on set states the filing, including: ‘when are we going to spend time together?,’ ‘I want you so bad,’ ‘my c**k is so hard because of you right now,’ ‘you look like a woman who knows what to do in bed,’ ‘you look like you would be an animal in the sheets,’ ‘[Mr. Davis] loved really rough sex and would love to be able to spank [Plaintiff] so hard it would leave marks,’ and ‘can tell you like it rough and would love it.’
McNabb, who shot to fame with the Philadelphia Eagles, told Cantor she looked like a ‘s*uirter’ claims the court filing, and said she ‘looked like the kind of girl that s*uirted when getting f***ed.’
Marshall Faulk (left), Ike Taylor (right) and Heath Evans have been suspended from the NFL Network pending an investigation. But the company denied all of the allegations against them in their most recent court filing
Cantor says Evans told her ‘you’re making me so horny’ and that he ‘needed to get in you deep and hard’. Sapp (right) was fired by the network back in 2015 after he was arrested for soliciting a prostitute and assault. Cantor says Sapp (right) gave her sex toys for Christmas three years in a row
Faulk is accused of ‘greeting the Plaintiff by fondling her breasts and groping her behind. As time went on, Mr. Faulk became more aggressive, such as inviting Plaintiff to his hotel room, stroking and pulling out his genitals in front of her, pointing to his crotch and asking Plaintiff, “when are you gonna get on this already?”
‘He also pinned Plaintiff against a wall, demanding oral sex while he pulled his pants down.’
Taylor is accused of sending ‘sexually inappropriate pictures of himself, and a nude video while masturbating in the shower’.
Sapp, considered by many to be one of the all-time great defenders in the league, ‘gave Plaintiff sex toys as a Christmas gifts three years in a row, showed Plaintiff nude pictures of numerous women he claimed to have slept with, and openly talked about his sex life in front of Plaintiff.’
He also allegedly urinated in front of Cantor when she was forced to use the same facilities as him while completing some styling work.
‘Sorry mama, but your office shouldn’t be our shi**er,’ Sapp allegedly told Cantor.
Heath Evans, who played with the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints, allegedly sent nude photos to Cantor on at least two occasions while propositioning her for sex multiple times.
Cantor says Evans told her ‘you’re making me so horny’ and that he ‘needed to get in you deep and hard’
It was not just the former athletes either, with producer Eric Weinberger accused of sending both nude photos and explicit texts in the complaint.
Cantor claims Weinberger said she was ‘put on earth to pleasure me’ and once told her to meet him in a bathroom as he was ‘super horny.’
It is also alleged that he ‘grabbed her behind, touching Plaintiff’s crotch, groping her breasts, and put his hands down Plaintiff’s pants.’
When he stuck his hand down her pants, Weinberger told Cantor he wanted to ‘check if she was wearing underwear’ according to the complaint.
Eric Weinberger, who runs The Ringer, also was suspended for the allegations.
‘These are very serious and disturbing allegations that we were made aware of today,’ said a spokesman for the Bill Simmons Media Group.
‘We are placing Eric on leave indefinitely until we have a better understanding of what transpired during his time at the N.F.L., and we will conduct our own internal investigation.’