NFL Network analysts suspended over sexual harassment claims
Three NFL Network analysts have been suspended after Jami Cantor, a former wardrobe stylist at the network, filed a complaint against NFL Enterprises alleging sexual harassment by several men while she was employed with the company. NFL Network confirmed the suspension in a statement to Bloomberg.
The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, names Eric Weinberger, a former executive producer at NFL Network and current president of Bill Simmons’s media group, as well as Marshall Faulk and Heath Evans, retired football players who provide on-air commentary for the network.
According to the complaint, Weinberger pressed his crotch against her shoulder and asked her to touch it, in addition sending her “several nude pictures of himself and sexually explicit texts” and telling her she was “put on earth to pleasure me.”
Cantor alleges that Faulk asked her “deeply personal and invasive questions” regarding her sex life, fondled her breasts, and groped her butt.
Also named is another analyst, Ike Taylor, who the filing indicates sent Cantor “sexually inappropriate” pictures of himself and a video of him masturbating in the shower. Donovan McNabb, a former analyst, has also been included in the filing.
The men named in the suit are not included as defendants.
According to a spokesman for the NFL Network, Faulk, Taylor and Evans have been suspended while an investigation into the accusations is conducted.
Cantor said in the complaint that she informed Marc Watts, who coordinates talent for the NFL, of the alleged advances, but that he said it’s “part of the job when you look the way you do.” Cantor also alleges that the network did not reimburse her for expenses, and failed to pay her adequately for the hours she worked.
Faulk has provided commentary for “NFL Total Access,” “Thursday Night Football,” and “NFL GameDay Morning” for five seasons. Taylor, hired in 2015, works primarily on “NFL Now.” Evans joined the network as an analyst in 2012.