No disrespect to the author but there could be a lot of fans that might not have even read “The Cranky Redskins Fan’s Guide to Dan Snyder” yet. This is a very entertaining article by Dave McKenna which is an A-Z listing some of Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder’s movements since he has owned the Washington Redskins.
Snyder is now filing a lawsuit against McKenna’s employer, The Washington City Paper and in doing so; he is going to give that paper and that article more publicity than the outlet’s marketing crew could have paid to get. It has been less than 24 hours since the story of the lawsuit broke and there is already a huge uproar in Washington and thousands of visits to the article have most likely taken place in the last eight hours.
In an effort to execute damage control I'm sure, Tony Wyllie, Redskins Senior Vice President of Public Relations and Media Information; and David Donovan, General Counsel (among other things), appeared on local radio station 106.7 The Fan this afternoon. Hosts LaVar Arrington and Chad Dukes had been talking about the story and were happy to give Snyder's employees the opportunity to tell their boss's side.
Wyllie and Donovan said that Snyder was upset because of several untruths printed in the article and the disrespect it showed to himself and his wife, Tanya. They seemed to take real issue with the doctored picture of Snyder in devil’s horns that accompanied the article and insisted it was a case of anti-Semitism. They also said that the article disrespected what Tanya had done for breast cancer awareness and slandered her by saying she was “out selling the transformation” of Snyder.
When Arrington and Dukes asked about other issues that Snyder has with McKenna’s article, Donovan said that the lawsuit would be public record when filed and that the details could be viewed in the document.
The Washington Post reported that Snyder was seeking the dismissal of McKenna but Wyllie and Donovan were quick to deny this allegation and in fact, were vehement that this was not the case. The Redskins want the City Paper to correct those items in the article they feel are not true.
Snyder’s attorneys are trying to get copies of emails sent between McKenna and Washington Post columnist Dan Steinberg to see if there was any collaboration between the two according to the Washington Post. It sounds to me like this lawsuit is trying to get to the Post as well as the City Paper. This is no surprise since the Redskins have had issues with the Post over the years.
Snyder should not have even brought Tanya into the equation. Her body of work for the breast cancer community speaks for itself. I hope that Snyder is simply going to bat for his wife and not using this to get sympathy for his suit. Of course, one never knows what the attorneys and spin doctors are advising.
News of this lawsuit has begun a wave of turbulence that will last for months in Washington and for what? For an entertaining article, read by fans in-the-know with a chuckle?
The owners of the Washington City Paper are probably ecstatic.
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