As if the Redskins don’t have enough drama to deal with, now there is this via The Big Lead, and propagated further by PFT:
On August 30, Jessica McCloughan [wife of Redskins GM Scot McCloughan] directed this message to [ESPN reporter Dianna] Russini, via TheBigLead.com: “Please tell us how many BJ’S you had to give to get this story. And did they laugh at you before or after?”
Initially, Redskins Senior VP Tony Wyllie (of the “no means no” infamy and this dressing down by Deadspin) told PFT that the tweet was a fake, until McCloughan admitted that she screwed up. Not the best PR coordination happening there, for sure.
The story in question, by the way, is this one, which broke the news that there was dissension between ownership and the front office as to whether the team should move on from Robert Griffin III.
However, Jessica McCloughan wasn’t the only one affiliated with the Redskins to bring Russini into question. TE Niles Paul added this shortly after the ESPN story broke:
@AJ_ThompsonJr we've been trying to figure that out for 2 years now lol
— Niles Paul (@Niles_Paul84) August 31, 2015
But here’s the bigger issue at play. If you look at the author line in the ESPN report, you’ll see that it was co-authored by Russini and Adam Schefter. Yet, I don’t see any tweets wondering how Schefter has been able to get leaked news on the Redskins, let alone asking whether he performed sexual favors to get that information. The reason why is sadly obvious. I’m on the record as saying that Russini could be a rising star among NFL insiders, and it would be nice if others stuck to the merits of her reporting rather than fall trap to stereotypes.