Press

Dan Snyder Must Go, Says Women’s Group. And Take Goodell With You

Shaunna Thomas, co-founder and executive director of UltraViolet, released this statement:

Daniel Snyder has enabled, encouraged and fostered a hostile workplace and toxic culture for women. He must go. If the NFL is serious about cleaning up its act, they will force Snyder to sell the team.

The NFL has repeatedly failed women by putting our safety and wellbeing in jeopardy. Yesterday’s report by the Washington Post that more than fifteen women were routinely subject to sexual harassment and abuse by people in positions of power at Washington state’s NFL Team shows that the league is continuing to fail women.

Unfortunately these allegations are not surprising. Dan Snyder’s long refusal to abandon the football franchise’s racist namesake and logo speaks volumes. As we have continued to see over and over again, misogyny and racism seem to go hand-in-hand.

There is no place in any workforce for harassment and assault. The NFL must act now, and fast.

Social media platforms face a reckoning over hate speech

Women’s Group UltraViolet Cheers Andy Lack’s Exit as NBC News Chairman

UltraViolet, a national women’s group, cheered the exit of longtime NBC News Chairman Andy Lack on Monday as a “positive development” that “suggests NBC is beginning to take issues regarding its workplace culture seriously.”

“After a career of enabling sexual abusers, preying on women in the workplace and silencing stories from survivors, Andy Lack’s name is synonymous with NBCUniversal’s toxic workplace culture. Lack should have been forced to step down after Ronan Farrow’s reporting exposed his role covering up sexual abuse at the network,” UltraViolet co-founder Shaunna Thomas said in a statement, citing previous accusations about Lack’s behavior as chairman of NBC News and MSNBC since 2015. (Lack has denied retaliating against the two women who spoke with Farrow about his behavior.)

“While no single decision or individual can eliminate the pervasiveness of sexual abuse and harassment in the workplace, these are positive developments,” she continued. “Still, NBC has a long way to go before it takes the steps necessary to address their toxic workplace culture, which has been cultivated by men like Andy Lack for decades.”

Senate’s $2 trillion stimulus fails women on frontlines of coronavirus pandemic

“Someone You Love Had an Abortion”: New Digital Ad Campaign Targets Moderate Swing Voters

Late last week, in partnership with MomsRising and We Testify, UltraViolet—a leading women’s advocacy group—launched a major six-figure new digital persuasion and storytelling campaign targeting progressive younger voters and moderate swing voters on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube in Virginia, Georgia, Missouri and Ohio.

The ads have a simple message for these voters: “Someone they love had an abortion.”

View the 30-second spot here:

Reports: Harvey Weinstein close to $25M settlement with some accusers but won’t have to pay

“We support survivors, and that includes supporting survivors to make their own decisions to make deals with their abusers,” added Shaunna Thomas, co-founder of the anti-rape group UltraViolet, in a statement emailed to USA TODAY. “But it’s hardly lost on us that these brave women made the only choice that was available to them under our flawed and disempowering judicial system. Survivors of sexual abuse deserve better.”

This is not the potential end to all civil lawsuits against Weinstein: It doesn’t include one famous accuser of Weinstein, Ashley Judd, who’s filed a separate sexual harassment and retaliation suit against him in California. She has said she wants a trial in her case.

4 Democratic Candidates Press For Inquiry Into NBC’s ‘Toxic Culture’ Ahead Of Debate

In the letter, which was coordinated by the women’s advocacy group UltraViolet, the senators say they’re concerned about the message it sends to sexual assault survivors if the Democratic debate happens without the network’s parent at least agreeing to conduct an investigation into allegations of harassment, assault and a cover-up at NBC News.

NBC News Sexual Misconduct Controversy Draws Small Protest Outside 30 Rock

A handful of protestors gathered outside NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Center on Wednesday to demand the ouster of top NBC News executives for the network’s handling of internal sexual misconduct allegations, among other issues.

The feminist advocacy org UltraViolet organized a demonstration outside of NBC News headquarters to deliver a petition with nearly 20,000 signatures calling for the firing of NBC News president Noah Oppenheim and MSNBC president Phil Griffin. Oppenheim recently signed a new contract with NBC News and is expected to succeed Andy Lack as chairman of the division after the 2020 presidential election.

NBC News has been at the center of controversy for two weeks amid the publication of Ronan Farrow’s book “Catch and Kill,” which details what he describes as NBC’s effort to quash his reporting on sexual assault allegations against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. Farrow criticizes NBC News for its handling of internal sexual misconduct and harassment claims, most notably those involving former “Today” anchor Matt Lauer, who was fired in November 2017.

What “She Said” To Me

With the release of the book She Said today by investigative journalists Jodi Kantor and Meghan Twohey we’re all getting a deeper look at what led to and what resulted from the story that rocked Hollywood, and then the country about Harvey Weinstein, his survivors and his enablers. The book is amazing and I hope everyone goes out and reads it.

As the person named in the book for first suggesting to the New York Times that they look at Harvey Weinstein’s history of abuse, it’s important to explain why I did it. I did not do so lightly and there was a history behind my actions and the implications it has had for our society. This is that story.

Soccer fans, activists rally at U.S. Soccer headquarters for equal pay

“It’s not complicated and it’s not right,” said Susan Hildebrand, national field director at Ultraviolet. “We’re here to support the team’s demand for equal pay. In addition to bringing home those four World Cup championships, the women’s team also brings in significant revenue.”

UltraViolet Responds to Shadow Campaign Designed to stop Kamala Harris From Becoming Vice President

Women’s Group: Republicans and Congress Must Censure Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL)

UltraViolet Responds to Rape Accusations Against Ex-Fox Reporter Ed Henry and Sexual Harassment Allegations Against Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Other Fox Journalists

UltraViolet Responds to Reports That Breonna Taylor Was Alive After Being Shot by Police Who Refused to Save Her 

UltraViolet Applauds Reddit Hate Speech Policy Expansion, Closing of Pro-Trump Forum After Private Meeting With CEO Steve Huffman Last Week

Women’s Group Celebrates SCOTUS Verdict in June Medical Case, Warns Fight to Protect Reproductive Freedom is Far From Over

UltraViolet Responds to Arrest of Louisville Police Officer Responsible for Murdering Breonna Taylor

LOOK UP: Plane Flies Over Downtown Louisville With Banner Reading “BREONNA WAS ESSENTIAL. DEFUND LMPD.”

Louisville Courier Journal Centerfold to Declare  “Breonna Was Essential” Demands Accountability for the Police Murder of Breonna Taylor

BREAKING: Andy Lack Steps Down as NBC News Chairman, Noah Oppenheim Sidelined in Reshuffle