WASHINGTON (WUSA) — Washington Redskins' cheerleaders describe a trip that required some of them to pose topless, while sponsors, and FedExField suite holders, who were all men, were allowed to watch, according to The New York Times.
The organization took the cheerleaders to Costa Rica in 2013 for a calendar shoot, at the adults-only Occidental Grand Papagayo resort on Culebra Bay.
THEY KNEW THEY WERE BEING WATCHED
According to the New York Times, the cheerleaders were "anxiously aware" when the sponsors and other guests were watching.
“At one of my friend’s shoots, we were basically standing around her like a human barricade because she was basically naked, so we could keep the guys from seeing her,” one of the cheerleaders said. “I was getting so angry that the guys on the trip were skeezing around in the background.”
One evening, after a 14-hour day of shooting, nine out of the 36 cheerleaders were told that their work was not done. Some of the male sponsors had chosen them to be personal escorts at a nightclub.
“So get back to your room and get ready,” longtime director and Redskins' choreographer Stephanie Jojokian told them. “They weren’t putting a gun to our heads, but it was mandatory for us to go,” one of the cheerleaders said. “We weren’t asked, we were told. Other girls were devastated because we knew exactly what she was doing.”
When they showed up to the club, it was dark, and nearly empty, except for the men who request them and Lon Roseberg, the senior vice president for operation, and Dennis Greene, the president for business operations.
“The issue was that management seemed to condone all of this,” one cheerleader who was there said.
INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR HAS HAPPENED BEFORE
In 2012, Redskins' cheerleaders were required to go on a team-bonding boat trip. However, they soon found out when they arrived at the pier in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood, where they were to board, that wasn't the case.
It was actually a yacht with several men already aboard. Some of the cheerleaders described the "team-bonding" party as a wild gathering, where men shot liquor into the cheerleaders’ mouths with turkey basters, and below the deck, men handed out cash prizes in twerking contests.
Even though no cheerleader claimed that anything inappropriate happened, one cheerleader captain said, “They were all adults and got out of the experience what they wanted to get out of it.”
The account of the Redskins' calendar shoot was based on an interview done with five cheerleaders who were involved.
