The irreconcilable disconnect between the Cowboys paying $2.4 million to settle voyeurism allegations and concluding that no wrongdoing occurred compels a much closer look at the situation. Content to close the books on the matter (and to accept the team’s investigation of itself), the NFL doesn’t plan to do so. That means others need to start looking and probing and noticing and discussing.
Here’s a nugget contained in a recent article from Texan Monthly regarding the situation: “Sarah Hepola’s Texas Monthly podcast on the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, America’s Girls, painted a less flattering portrait of [Cowboy owner Jerry] Jones. This Jerry Jones brought buddies to sip cocktails and leer at cheerleaders during their workouts. This Jerry Jones handpicked at least one cheerleader to accompany him on a trip in his private jet, where she was expected to wear the group’s famous, skimpy uniform and parade around for the boss’s guests.”
Cindy Villareal is the cheerleader who was invited to accompany Jones and guests on his jet.
“My first thought was, ‘Why am I being asked to be on an airplane with Jerry’s businessmen?’ I thought it was raunchy,” she told Hepola.
While that apparently happened years ago, it occurred on the watch of the man who decided in 2015 that: (1) Rich Dalrymple, Jones’s former P.R. executive and confidant (and, as some has described it, “fixer”) had done nothing wrong; and (2) $2.4 million should be paid to rectify whatever Dalrymple didn’t do. That makes no sense. Jones’s comments from Friday fail to make it make sense.
The Cowboys, who otherwise regard any publicity as good publicity, realize that this is not good publicity. They managed to use money to keep it all quiet for nearly seven years. Now that it’s out in the open, it’s largely being ignored -- by the team, by the league, by pretty much everyone.
Hopefully, that won’t continue. For those of us who rely on instincts that scream out “they’re hiding something,” my instincts continue to scream out, “They’re hiding something.”
Literally, they are. The use of non-disclosure agreements proves it. But it feels like there could be something more. And there’s no way to know whether that’s true without the Cowboys rescinding the NDAs and the league conducting a full and complete investigation.
I know that there are bigger things currently happening in the world. But human beings (especially those in positions of power and leadership) have the capacity to pay attention to multiple problems at once. Besides, those whose conduct cries out for full exploration and accountability shouldn’t get to take cover in the fact that, from a broader perspective, times are currently tough.
