Last week, news broke that former NFL Network makeup artist Jami Cantor had filed a wrongful termination suit against the network, in which she described experiencing sexual harassment from multiple co-workers. Now another former makeup artist, Erin McParland, has come forward to tell her story to Sports Illustrated.
In an as-told-to interview with SI’s Tim Rohan, McParland describes three times she says she was harassed by former NFL Network on-air personality Eric Davis. Davis now works for ESPN but was suspended after Cantor’s lawsuit became public.
McParland says that she was harassed by Davis multiple times while they worked together. She says the harassment started with inappropriate comments from Davis about her flexibility, escalated to a hug during which she could feel Davis “pressing and rubbing his genitals” into her leg, and culminated in assault. From her story:
The third and final incident was full-on predatory, and it came during the filming of Total Access, one of the network’s premier shows. Davis went in for a hug and then, with both hands, grabbed and fondled my buttocks. I instantly pulled away, recoiling. I looked him in the eyes and firmly told him, “Hands off.”
His response to groping me at work was simply to walk out with no comment. This was no misunderstanding. I had just been sexually assaulted in my workplace.
McParland says she reported the harassment to the network’s HR department, which took her claims seriously but ultimately elected to resolve what happened by having Davis leave the company quietly. He was later hired by ESPN, where McParland also worked as a freelancer.
You can read the full story here.