More Than 250 Survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Call on Roger Goodell to Resign; Urge Sponsors to Take Action
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, 24 September 2014
CONTACT:
Brett Abrams : 516-841-1105 : brett@fitzgibbonmedia.com
More Than 250 Survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Call on Roger Goodell to Resign; Urge Sponsors to Take Action
Survivors Join #GoodellMustGo Campaign With Open Letter to Roger Goodell & NFL Sponsors
** VIEW THE LETTER HERE: http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/NFL_survivors/ **
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, more than 250 survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault have joined forces with UltraViolet – the national women’s advocacy organization behind the #GoodellMustGo airplane banner campaign – with a letter to Roger Goodell and NFL sponsors including Anheuser-Busch, CoverGirl, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Nike, and Visa, urging the Commissioner to resign over his mishandling and cover-ups of multiple domestic abuse cases in the league.
The letter comes days after Roger Goodell stumbled through an hour-long press conference on the issue that left many NFL fans questioning his ability to lead. And reads, in part: “With your presence, a dark cloud will remain over one of America’s most important institutions. You no longer have the credibility to lead and it is time to step aside for someone who can.”
READ THE FULL LETTER HERE: http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/NFL_survivors/
Starting tomorrow, September 25th, UltraViolet will be launching a five-figure online ad buy targeting NFL sponsors and advertisers – Anheuser-Busch, CoverGirl, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Nike, and Visa – specifically for the next two weeks, urging them to speak out against Roger Goodell’s mishandling of domestic abuse cases and drop their sponsorship.
“I’ve been alarmed at Roger Goodell’s embarrassing mishandling of domestic abuse cases in the NFL,” said Sharon Wood Wortman, a writer and educator from Portland, Oregon. “It’s time for Goodell to resign so that we can all move on– until he does so, the NFL and their sponsors are sending the message to fans and victims of domestic violence alike – that domestic abuse and inaction to protect survivors – doesn’t have real and damaging consequences.”
“We stand with survivors of domestic violence in calling on Roger Goodell to take responsibility for his mishandling of multiple domestic abuse cases under his tenure, and resign as Commissioner of the NFL,” said Nita Chaudhary, co-founder of UltraViolet. “The facts remain: Roger Goodell let 57 cases of domestic violence languish before he took action under extreme pressure. In a country where 1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime, we need an NFL commissioner who can lead on, not just respond to, violence against women. Goodell needs to resign.”
More than 20,000 UltraViolet members have signed on to a petition calling for Goodell’s resignation, with few moved by the commissioner’s last-ditch attempts to address the issue.
VIEW THE PETITION HERE: http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/RogerGoodell/
For more information, or for interviews with UltraViolet, please contact Brett Abrams at 516-841-1105 or by email at brett@fitzgibbonmedia.com.
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UltraViolet is an online community of over 550,000 women and men who want to take collective action to expose and fight sexism in the public sector, private sector and the media. Find out more at WeAreUltraViolet.org.