USA TODAY FTW / By: Chris Chase
Jessica McCloughan, the wife of Washington Redskins general manager Scot McCloughan, apologized Wednesday for sending disparaging remarks on Twitter to ESPN reporter Dianna Russini.
The tweets, which were taken down when blacksportsonline.com initially posted them, were sent from her private account to Russini. They lewdly questioned a specific story Russini had broken, one which wasn’t immediately apparent but, judging by Russini’s Twitter timeline, was likely about the Redskins quarterbacking controversy between Kirk Cousins and Robert Griffin III.
Early Wednesday, the Redskins gave a standard “I said something stupid on Twitter” defense that the account was a fake. Said account was quickly taken down after the story broke.
Meet Jessica, wife of @Redskins new GM Scot McCloughan in#WOW's Team Behind the Team Series:http://t.co/WeVzS4DiFc pic.twitter.com/LVmNXKlG4c— Redskins Womens Club (@WOWRedskins) June 29, 2015
But later Wednesday night, the Redskins admitted in a statement that McCloughan had sent the remarks. McCloughan apologized in the statement, but carefully avoided mentioning Russini’s name (Via PFT.)
“I deeply apologize for the disparaging remarks about an ESPN reporter on my personal Twitter account. The comment was unfounded and inappropriate, and I have the utmost respect for both the reporter and ESPN. I regret that my actions have brought undeserved negative attention to the Redskins organization and its leadership. My comments in no way reflect the opinions or attitudes of the organization and I regret that my behavior has in any way negatively impacted the team and its loyal fan base.”
Russini worked for two years a sports anchor on Washington D.C.’s NBC affiliate WRC (former home of the legendary sport caster George Michael). While there, she frequently broke Redskins stories during, a trend that continued when she moved to ESPN to become, among other duties in Bristol, a SportsCenter anchor.
ESPN later released a comment about the situation.
“Dianna is an excellent reporter who should never have to be subjected to such vulgar comments,” it said. “We are obviously extremely disappointed by today’s developments.”
