The Dallas Cowboys paid a multimillion dollar settlement to members of their cheerleading squad after allegations that a senior team executive filmed them in the AT&T Stadium locker rooms, according to documents obtained by ESPN.
In a report published on Wednesday, ESPN said that the team paid a total of $2.4m in the settlement, which involved four cheerleaders. One of the women alleges that she saw Richard Dalrymple, the Cowboys’ longtime senior vice president for public relations and communications, covertly filming them with his iPhone while they undressed after an event in 2015. Dalrymple used his security keycard to enter the locker room through a back door, but says he was unaware the cheerleaders were present.
In documents obtained by ESPN, Dalrymple is also accused of taking an “upskirt” image of Charlotte Jones Anderson, a senior executive at the team who is also the daughter of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. The second incident is alleged to have occurred at the 2015 NFL draft.
Dalrymple has denied the allegations against him.
“People who know me, co-workers, the media and colleagues, know who I am and what I’m about,” Dalrymple said in his statement released on Monday. “I understand the very serious nature of these claims and do not take them lightly. The accusations are, however, false. One was accidental and the other simply did not happen. Everything that was alleged was thoroughly investigated years ago, and I cooperated fully.”
The Cowboys said they investigated the allegations but found no wrongdoing, despite the settlement.
“The organization took these allegations extremely seriously and moved immediately to thoroughly investigate this matter,” said Jim Wilkinson, a communications consultant for the Cowboys. “The investigation was handled consistent with best legal and HR practices and the investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing.”
ESPN says that Dalrymple was issued a formal written warning in October 2015, although the team has not said what the warning was for. Dalrymple continued to work for the Cowboys for another six years, before he retired after 32 years as Jerry Jones’s chief spokesman. His retirement came a few weeks after ESPN started interviewing people for its investigation.
The four cheerleaders involved in the settlement either declined to comment to ESPN or did not respond to interview requests. ESPN says that the terms of the settlement included a nondisclosure agreement.
However, one former cheerleader not involved in the case said the alleged incident was known about at the time.
“It hurt my heart because I know how much it affected the people who were involved,” the former cheerleader said. “It was a very … shut the book, don’t talk about it, this person is going to stay in his position … They just made it go away.”
The treatment of cheerleaders has come under scrutiny several times in recent years. In 2018, the New York Times reported Washington’s NFL team required its cheerleaders to go topless during photo shoots and act as personal escorts for team sponsors. In 2020, the Washington Post made further allegations involving the team’s owner, Dan Snyder, with a former team employee saying that a video was made of cheerleaders accidentally exposing their breasts during a film shoot in 2008.
In 2016, the Guardian reported on the poor conditions some NBA cheerleaders work under.