Redskins try to cover-up and force apology on General Manager’s wife for lewd Twitter post
Several media outlets report the Washington Redskins first denied the allegations of a lewd twitter comment toward ESPN reporter Dianna Russini by Jessica McCloughan (Wife of Redskin’s General Manager Scot McCloughan). They then pressured Mrs. McCloughan to issue an apology for her comments.
This Twitter post was directed at Russini with regard to an article she wrote shortly before the Redskin’s announced Kirt Cousins to be the starting quarterback.
A Pro Football Talk (PFT) article reported, “Redskins Senior Vice President Tony Wyllie tells PFT that Jessica McCloughan did not post the tweet, it came from a fake account, and it has been forwarded to the NFL’s security department. The Twitter account has since been deleted.”
Although her account was deleted, word had already spread about her post and reporters began to wonder if the account was truly fake after these previous posts.
It soon became evident that she was the author of the post and the Redskin’s looked like they were trying to cover-up the incident. According to a USA Today article, Mrs. McCloughan was pressured by the Redskins organization to approve this drafted apology.
This apology seems to have been conducted by the Redskins organization to mitigate the effect of her comments on the brand of the organization.
However, this was not the first Twitter feud between Russini and Mrs. McCloughan. Mrs. McCloughan had negative comments back in August when she tweeted at Russini, “I’m pretty sure this info is coming from my husband to his new side chick (dianna) It’s Confirmed” after Russini posted a opinion tweet about the Redskins.
All of this controversy developing around an already stressed Redskins organization that won four games last season and is battling an injury with quarter back Robert Griffin III. But this could turn into a larger issue for both the Redskins and Scot McCloughan.
According to a Radar Online article, Mrs. McCloughan’s sister-in-law, Shannon Rutherford, said she knew about Jessica’s belief that Mr. McCloughan was cheating on her with Russini, “confirming that she has been aware ‘for a few weeks’ about the ‘side chick’ prior to the Twitter scandal.”
If what Rutherford and Mrs. McCloughan said is true, this could bring serious repercussions on everyone involved. This could also ruin Mr. McCloughan’s second chance in the NFL after alcoholism cost him his prior two jobs and stressed his previous marriage with then Kelli McCloughan.
ESPN responded with this statement, “Dianna is an excellent reporter who should never have to be subjected to such vulgar comments. We are obviously extremely disappointed by today’s developments.”
Even if her statement turns out to be true, some reporters do not support the manor in which Mrs. McCloughan conducted herself. ESPN’s Jemele Hill defended Russini and and other female reporters with these messages.
TCU’s public relations professor, Dr. Amiso George, said, “I believe that the Redskins are using the denial and apology strategies of image restoration. Typically, in a crisis situation, one in which an organization’s reputation has been tarnished, the first response is denial. Management then tried to blame some impersonator, but when that was proven to be true, they had no choice but to apologize.”
No matter how the story turns out, going after Russini on Twitter instead of a private conversation or dealing with the situation internally seems to have been the wrong course of action. There appears to be more negatives than positives that have come from Mrs. McCloughan’s behavior for an already strained Redskins organization.
