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The statue is back in the news

Mr. Scot

By Mr. Scot,
in Carolina Panthers

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Mr. Scot

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Some of Jerry Richardson's victims are urging the city of Charlotte to help get it removed.

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A 13-foot statue of Jerry Richardson still stands outside the north gate at Bank of America Stadium. It was meant as a testament to the man who brought the NFL to Charlotte. But for his victims, who faced years of sexual harassment before revelations of illicit behavior and secret payoffs forced Richardson to sell the team, the statue stands as a daily reminder of all they endured.

“I don’t drive by it on purpose because of the feelings that it stirs up,’’ said one of his victims, who requested her name be withheld because of a financial settlement with Richardson and the Panthers that includes a nondisclosure agreement. “It’s almost a PTSD sort of feeling, to drive by.”

Why did that statue remain after Richardson’s behavior was revealed in a December 2017 Sports Illustrated article that I co-authored, the details of which were confirmed in an NFL investigation this year? The short answer: New owner David Tepper agreed to keep the statue in place as part of his $2.2 billion purchase of the team. At a press conference in July, Tepper said he was “contractually obligated” to keep the statue. He has never elaborated. (Tepper declined an interview request for this story through team spokesman Steven Drummond.)

Victims hope that isn’t the final answer. In recent conversations with me, several say they believe there is another option for removing the statue, which stands on city-owned property—but only if the people of Charlotte want it moved. That’s the question city officials have yet to answer or even ask: Do we want that statue to continue to represent Charlotte?

 

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Victims have told me they’ve spoken to each other about the statue and agree it is at the top of their list of concerns. But they have not formally asked the city to consider moving it because they’re afraid to break their nondisclosure agreements. Although the NFL fined Richardson $2.75 million, it’s a small fraction of what the team sold for, and the league took no action against the organization. The victims say their forced silence has allowed the league, team, and city to all but ignore them.

“It’s almost twofold for me,’’ said one of the victims. “The Panthers themselves never got any kind of punishment, and they were indeed found to have done something wrong. Not only did they not get punishment, they never apologized, they never made mention of it, and then, ‘Oh, they’re going to also keep the statue up to honor this man who did this.’

“You feel violated all over again.”

Added another victim, “They’re basically saying, in a nonverbal way: ‘It was minor. No big deal. Yeah, they did an investigation. Yeah, maybe some people got paid or whatever. But we don’t care about what really happened.’”

 

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Eiselt, herself a victim of assault—a man tried to abduct her at gunpoint in 2007, pushing her toward public office—said she understands how Richardson’s victims feel. “I certainly, especially being a woman, I want to be sensitive to victims feeling revictimized,’’ Eiselt said. “That said, it is a complicated issue, and I don’t know that the city should be the ones taking the first step. I think the Panthers should. I think the Panthers should reach out and talk to the victims about it. Because it’s their statue. It is on city property, but there’s contracts involved. It’s not clear-cut.

“The right thing would be for the Panthers to recognize and respect the victims of this and negotiate something with them that would make them feel heard and respected.”

The victims say they have not heard from the Panthers or Tepper, who has never explained why he agreed to keep the statue in place as part of the deal.

But at least one victim said she understands why Richardson insisted it remain. “That’s about money, and that’s about power and control,’’ she said, “which is what sexual harassment is about.”

Richardson's victims ask why the statue can't come down

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Lumps Newbie

Lumps

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First of all it's not 'forced silence' it's 'silence that was paid for' and these people were not forced to take money/and or sign that agreement. So I don't buy the whole people are choosing to ignore it thing. If people don't have the details and evidence it's hard for them to rally or do much.

However, this statue absolutely needs to be removed. JR was a cancer to this franchise and an embarrassment with the things he did. What we do know is it was sexual harassment and there were settlements and that by itself should get it removed.

I wonder if the NFL or maybe even Charlotte helped him keep it in place, I am not sure why JR had the leverage to negotiate keeping a statue around another owner's team.

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MechaZain Veteran

MechaZain

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48 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

There is a little bit of resentment toward Tepper detectable in some of their comments.

If JR went as far as statue clause I think we can reasonably assume that the team can't address the investigation either as part of the agreement. I feel for the victims but they should know that Tepper's probably under an NDA just like they are. 

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