Browns count on their fans to tire of Deshaun Watson controversy ASAP |Michael Arace
It has been nearly two weeks since former Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson waived his no-trade clause to facilitate a deal with the Cleveland Browns, who gave Watson a $230-million contract, a league record for guaranteed money.
Criminal charges against Watson which allege sexual harassment and assault have been dismissed. Yet he still faces 22 active civil suits related to his conduct in massage-therapy sessions. Some therapists describe untoward sexual advances. Others describe more graphic, egregious offenses.
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The Browns trotted out Watson and flanked him with general manager Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski for an introductory press conference last week.
Watson emphatically denied any wrongdoing. Berry and Stefanski said the team had done a proper vetting (without, it seems, speaking to any of the alleged victims) and they believe in the purity of Watson’s character. Or something like that.
At this point, you may be saying to yourself, “Damn, not another Deshaun Watson story.” That is exactly what the Browns want. They want you to grow tired of the allegations against Watson. They believe you will when Watson, a three-time Pro-Bowler, gets on the field. They believe winning will cure everything, and they have history on their side. (See: Ben Roethlisberger, among other cases.)
While the Browns are saying all the right things about sympathizing with victims — and while they will surely make donations to women’s organizations and trot Watson out to shelters —their actions speak louder than words.
The Browns are saying one of two things: Either they don’t believe a word from 22 women who say they are victims of sexual harassment and/or violence, or they don’t care.
“It’s disgraceful,” said Rosa Beltre, the president and CEO of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence, which is based in Cleveland.
Beltre cited a statistic: “The incidences of false reporting — of women making this up — is 2.5%. People say, ‘they just want his money,’ or ‘they just want to destroy him.’ Well, 22 people are not coming forward to destroy anyone’s career. They’re under an intense microscope. They’re being revictimized.”
In other words, in a society where victim-blaming is the norm, especially when a victim is a woman, the very act of coming forward can be heroic.
In the Watson case, is there a possibility that one or two of the alleged victims want a payday? Yes, that is possible. Just remember that coming forward means being branded a gold digger or a prostitute, subjecting oneself to intense emotional pain, inviting ostracization, and so on, and so forth. It means changing one’s life forever.
Watson used Instagram to find massage therapists at least 40 times. In his case, there is a greater possibility that there are more than 22 victims out there. Some may be too frightened to come forward, for fear of further trauma.
Akron Beacon-Journal columnist Marla Ridenour, a victim of a horrific sex crime, cried herself to sleep when she heard that the Browns might be signing Watson. I know friends of Ridenour who cried when they read her column.
Beltre’s group, OAESV, issued a statement in the wake of Watson’s signing. In part, it read:
This is an upsetting reminder to many survivors and advocates in Ohio and around the country, that the legal system can be, and often is, used as a way to diminish the experiences of survivors. At times, it has failed to truly support survivors of sexual violence, given that only 7 of every 1000 instances of rape lead to a felony conviction of the rapist.
We must remember that morality and a "result" from the criminal legal system are not the same thing — just because a grand jury declines to indict an offender, does not mean they are necessarily "innocent" of the accusation or of harm, nor does it mean that the sexual assault(s) in question did not occur. Rather, this shows the limits and harms of the system itself.
The Browns believe in the system.
“We haven’t seen any type of recognition of wrongdoing by the Browns,” Beltre said Thursday. “On the contrary, they’ve given the impression that he is untouchable and more important for what he offers the league than standing with women. The NFL has a long history of this, of sweeping things under the rug for the sake of winning championships.
“It’s about greed and money and power.”
The criminal charges have been dismissed. The 22 civil suits that remain will be ruled upon in court, and/or settled out-of-court, in the coming years. Watson may or may not be suspended for a portion of the 2022 season, but that is OK with him and the Browns, who structured the record-setting contract so that the great bulk of it is paid after Year 1.
The Browns made Watson an offer he couldn’t refuse. Either the Browns don’t believe a word from 22 women who say they are victims of sexual harassment and/or violence, or they don’t care.
They don’t care.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Victims are lost or vilified as Watson readies to resume NFL career
