Being the official production arm of the National Football League, NFL Films have a history of making some of the best and most iconic works about the nation’s most beloved sports.
The NFL Films has provided baseball fans with content that is up close with the sports and also some interesting behind the scene footage which is otherwise inaccessible to ordinary fans. Through their work, NFL Films have gained popularity, acceptability, and love from baseball fans.
Most recently, a lawsuit filed in a New Jersey court accuses the production company of using its status in creating a collection featuring lewd shots of women – both fans and cheerleaders that grace the court.
The news about the raunchy collection of films was brought up in an employment discrimination lawsuit filed by a former temporary worker named Victoria Russell.
In her complaint against NFL Films and the League, Russel points out that the production company has a database of timestamps on their footage with descriptions like ‘cheerleaders rear end,’ ‘naughty camera work,’ ‘shot of endowed women,’ ‘random women, cleavage shot,’ ‘closeup of cheerleader’s breasts; cleavage shot,’ cheerleader’s buttocks,’ and ‘female fan in bikini top.’
As the details mentioned in the case became public, the spokesperson for NFL Brian McCarthy responded to the claim by saying that the mentioned contents were marked ‘sensitive’ by the concerned authorities, which made sure that those contents were not accessible for production and that they will not be used in any future contents.
McCarthy said that some of the labels mentioned by Russell in the lawsuit were inaccurate. He also added that the NFL Films logs all the footage captured by NFL cameras persons and such footage sometimes included visuals that were not suitable for public viewing.
McCarthy made it clear that the contents mentioned by Russell in her lawsuit were made ‘sensitive’ in order to stop using the said footage in any future projects. These footage are off limits even for the employees whose job is to locate footage for production.
Another striking argument put forward by McCarthy was that Victoria Russell, who filed the lawsuit against the league and its production company did not have the credentials needed to log into the system and also did not handle any job that would require her to access the footage.
Victoria Russel filed the lawsuit against the National Football League and its production arm NFL Films over her treatment as a black woman. Russel worked with the League in human resources for almost four years, from 2018 to 2022.
In her lawsuit, Russell raises arguments like denying a dedicated workspace, pay raises, and advancement opportunities that were enjoyed by her male and white colleagues. Russell stated that she was fired from her job without any warning just after she complained to the league’s chief diversity officer.
While Russell accused the League of employer discrimination, the League completely denied the allegations raised by her. The spokesperson of the league McCarthy replied that the management at NFL was committed to providing their employees with a respectful, inclusive work environment that was free from discrimination and harassment.
As per the statements of people who are familiar with the League and its policies, Russell’s contract with the firm was not renewed owing to her performance shortages. They also stated that Russell had numerous conversations with her superiors regarding her performance falling short.
They also added that there was no history of employment discrimination at the NFL. They also pointed out the fact that almost two-thirds of the people hired last year by the league were women or people of color and that the top three executives in Human Resources at the league were black, out of which two of them were women.
The allegations against the League’s production division are gaining importance over another issue that was reported by the Washington team. Earlier there were allegations that reported mistreatment of women who were associated with the team – especially the cheerleaders.
The employees of the Washington team had earlier released a statement which said that the video production workers of NFL Films were instructed to create a video that featured the cheerleaders in a sexually vulnerable manner by the owner of the Washington team Dan Snyder. However Snyder has denied these allegations.
The lawsuit filed by Russell also goes on to explain the dark side of the NFL Film archives. Russell explains her encounter with a chatroom log tracking timestamps on the NFL footage.
He says that those timestamps linked to the sexualized offensive descriptions about the women who were featured in the footage. She revealed that the chat logs associated with the timestamps were almost 14 pages of sexually degrading comments about women.
Victoria Russell who filed the lawsuit against the League is represented by Vladeck, Raskin & Clark law firm. The same agency represented a New York Knicks executive in their lawsuit against Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden over a sexual assault claim. The lawsuit was finally settled for around $11.5 million.
The NFL Films had been operating along with the league for almost fifty years. The production house is credited with some of the best works involving the league.
They had co-produced the popular HBO docu-series ‘Hard Knocks,’ the program which follows a single team even through their exclusive training camp sessions. The production house is also credited for documenting some of the iconic and extraordinary moments in the history of the NFL.
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