On March 31, Jasmine Brooks became one of 18 massage therapists who issued statements in support of Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. On April 6, attorney Tony Buzbee attributed to Brooks (without specifically naming her) text messages that seemed to mesh with Buzbee’s contention that Watson acted inappropriately with Buzbee’s 22 clients who have sued Watson.
The next day, Brooks spoke to KHOU-11 about the situation. She didn’t deny sending the messages, which explained her decision to stop providing massages to Watson after two and a half years. The interview with Brooks includes the chain of text messages in question.
The first, from Brooks: “I know i know i know.”
Then from Brooks: “That’s crazy.”
Then from Brooks, “I told u i stopped working with him?”
Next, a response: “Yeah why.”
Finally, four replies from Brooks: “Bc I was hearing too much stuff about him messing with other people. Like other therapist and esthetician’s. He been doing a lot the last 3-4 months. And i even told his ass he needed to be careful Bc his name getting around. I just hope don’t nobody call me to question me.”
In the interview with KHOU-11, Brooks first explained that she stopped massaging Watson because he had been working with so many people. She said that she thought there was a potential liability issue, if Watson were to be injured by one of the various people working on him. “I just didn’t want that on my plate anymore,” she said.
Brooks then was questioned about the text exchange. She first said it was “taken completely out of context” because it was sent not to another therapist but to a friend. (This doesn’t mean the message was taken out of context.) She then addressed the content of the text messages.
“Really, what I meant was Deshaun is, he’s working with a lot of people, he’s working with a lot of therapists. I don’t know these people. I don’t know what they’re doing with him. And I just wasn’t comfortable continuing my work with him. There has been an instance that I know of that me and Deshaun had spoke about with an esthetician and, you know, Deshaun is in a relationship but there was some sort of personal relationship with this person. And me speaking to Deshaun and telling him to be careful was because I feel like he doesn’t know the intentions of some of these people that he works with, you know, his personal information has been put on Instagram, on Instagram platform, and I just felt like it wasn’t safe for him, for him or his career, to just kind of go to anybody.”
That makes sense as to all of her text messages except one: “I just hope don’t nobody call me to question me.” Why does she hope no one calls her to question her? KHOU-11 did, and she freely agreed to speak. And she spoke without hesitation or equivocation.
Common sense suggests that “I just hope don’t nobody call me to question me” means that there’s something she knows or that she’s heard that she doesn’t want to have to disclose regarding Deshaun Watson. That interpretation makes even more sense if, as it appears, the text exchange was sparked by the notion that Watson had been sued for misconduct during massage sessions.
Regardless, it’s now a certainty that Jasmine Brooks will be subpoenaed by Buzbee to testify in up to 22 civil trials, and she will indeed be questioned aggressively, and repeatedly, regarding her text messages.
