Lisa Ann Walter, who plays Melissa on “Abbott Elementary,” showed support for alumni cheerleaders of the Washington Commanders, who are still looking for unity after it was reported that former owner Dan Snyder sexually harassed employees.
“Some of us diehard Washington fans know what you and the other women have done for the ethos of our beloved team,” Walter wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Melanie Coburn, who was a cheerleader for the then-Washington Redskins, and who worked for the organization under Snyder, reposted a thread she wrote last year on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. In the thread, Coburn wrote that she didn’t want to participate in the team’s homecoming activities on Sunday while the Washington Commanders still have not released the report into the workplace under Snyder’s ownership.
“A mainstay of the @wftcaa’s mission is to ‘support fellow alumni members who are in need,’” Coburn wrote. “Yet they are doing exactly the opposite. More than 40 of our Burgundy & Gold sisters were included in the abhorrent & criminal ‘Good Bits’ videos that were allegedly commissioned by Snyder.”
The Washington Post reported in 2020 that a former senior executive of the football team instructed employees to create a behind-the-scenes video of the team’s cheerleaders getting ready for a 2008 swimsuit calendar shoot. The video, which featured outtakes of cheerleaders partially nude, was for then-owner Snyder.
Attorney Beth Wilkinson completed her investigation into the Commanders in 2021, but the report was never released publicly. Instead, her findings were relayed orally to the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell, leading Coburn and others to call out the Commanders to “release the report.”
“Many (if not most) of the alums who were affected by his toxic culture & lewd videos feel betrayed by you and the entire @wtfcaa,” Coburn wrote on X to Terri Lamb, the president of the cheerleading alumni group. “It’s despicable that you turn your cheek and continue to cheer on the team that continues to cover up for the owner.”
The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability investigated the football team’s workplace culture under Snyder’s ownership in February 2022. During that roundtable, Coburn said that during a work trip to Aspen, Colorado, women were invited to Snyder’s house.
In July, Snyder sold the team to a group led by Josh Harris.