Under the rug at the mansion
I'm shocked, shocked I say, to read that there has been sexual harassment and other abuse of female players in Little Lord Paulson's wonderful Portland soccer empire. An outfit called The Athletic spills the beans:
Ahead of the Thorns' 2015 season, Meleana "Mana" Shim became entangled in the "social culture" that Riley had cultivated in Portland and in his previous teams. Over time, he started texting Shim more often and asked her to watch film with him, even sometimes at his apartment and in his hotel room.
After a night when the team went out to a bar, Farrelly and Shim ended up at Riley's apartment. He offered them more alcohol in his apartment, the two players said, and asked Shim to dance with him and pressured the two teammates to kiss so the team wouldn't have to run a suicide mile drill that week.
With the help of teammate Alex Morgan, Shim emailed a complaint to Thorns owner Merritt Paulson and HR director Nancy Garcia Ford in 2015. Garcia Ford met with Shim about her complaint. Shim said Garcia Ford told her that she didn't have a legal claim because Shim was unable to provide any corroborating evidence.
That fall, the Thorns announced that Riley would not be retained for a third season. From the outside, it looked like the team's poor results had forced Portland's hand. This week, Paulson acknowledged to The Athletic that the findings of the investigation factored in the team's decision.
Paulson fired the guy, and apparently said something to the league, but didn't say anything publicly. So Coach Creepy was hired elsewhere. Until he was fired yesterday "amid allegations spanning over a decade of sexual coercion and inappropriate comments about players' weight and sexual orientation."
The embarrassment is so bad that they have cancelled the whole league this weekend.
It's more of the goodness that you get when you throw in with the Paulson family, as Portland so eagerly has. Pillars of the community.
Men, protecting men, who are abusing women. I’ll say it again, men, protecting men, who are ABUSING WOMEN. Burn it all down. Let all their heads roll. https://t.co/iHg3JlVVe0
— Megan Rapinoe (@mPinoe) September 30, 2021
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