Massage therapist sues Deshaun Watson (update 22 women now)

[tres]

I hate to sound like I’m saying what he’s possibly done is not wrong but deep down I personally think this is a “Inside Job” by the Texans.

[hippesthippo]

Are there any criminal complaints yet, or just civil?

Everything about this situation is so so so weird. The lawyers who are involved, civil vs criminal, the timing, the Texans and most disturbingly, the number of woman involved.

This will have to play out in the courts before I form any sort of opinion on the matter, but it's very clear that this is not good for Watson.

[Duke4life831]

I hate to sound like I’m saying what he’s possibly done is not wrong but deep down I personally think this is a “Inside Job” by the Texans.

I get it if it’s just one girl. But we are now going to be at 22 women pretty soon (12 right now and 10 more are coming forward).

This is getting passed killing value to keep Watson with Houston. If this goes anywhere Watson’s value isn’t the thing that is tanked, his career is the thing that will be tanked. He won’t be in the NFL anymore.

[righterwriter]

I hate to sound like I’m saying what he’s possibly done is not wrong but deep down I personally think this is a “Inside Job” by the Texans.

I get it if it’s just one girl. But we are now going to be at 22 women pretty soon (12 right now and 10 more are coming forward).

This is getting passed killing value to keep Watson with Houston. If this goes anywhere Watson’s value isn’t the thing that is tanked, his career is the thing that will be tanked. He won’t be in the NFL anymore.

Yeah, it would basically be impossible to conspire to arrange for so many women to give false testimony on the record. And if any sort of evidence came out that they were coerced by the Texans (evidence which would be certain to come out due to so many people involved, particularly when cooperating with people willing to give false testimony for a payday), it would be lights out for the Texans franchise. So there's no conspiracy here, I'm 100% sure.

btw, just edited my post from saying a team should try to trade for him in hopes this will go away if the suits are settled, but tbh after reading some of the really disturbing testimony, I would not be surprised to see criminal charges appear.

If anyone wants to read more, the Texans Reddit page is detailing the stories: https://www.reddit.com/r/Texans/comments/m8htls/watson_lawsuit_megathread_part_2/

[azcatz11]

I hate to sound like I’m saying what he’s possibly done is not wrong but deep down I personally think this is a “Inside Job” by the Texans.

I get it if it’s just one girl. But we are now going to be at 22 women pretty soon (12 right now and 10 more are coming forward).

This is getting passed killing value to keep Watson with Houston. If this goes anywhere Watson’s value isn’t the thing that is tanked, his career is the thing that will be tanked. He won’t be in the NFL anymore.

Yeah, it would basically be impossible to conspire to arrange for so many women to give false testimony on the record. And if any sort of evidence came out that they were coerced by the Texans (evidence which would be certain to come out due to so many people involved, particularly when cooperating with people willing to give false testimony for a payday), it would be lights out for the Texans franchise. So there's no conspiracy here, I'm 100% sure.

btw, just edited my post from saying a team should try to trade for him in hopes this will go away if the suits are settled, but tbh after reading some of the really disturbing testimony, I would not be surprised to see criminal charges appear.

If anyone wants to read more, the Texans Reddit page is detailing the stories: https://www.reddit.com/r/Texans/comments/m8htls/watson_lawsuit_megathread_part_2/

I'm not giving him the benefit of the doubt anymore. Like you said, even if half of the women are lying I find it impossible that there is a conspiracy and have 20+ women involved in this.

I expect the Texans to release him, he will sit out a year, and another team will pick him up. Really sucks for the Texans though because if they don't cut him the PR will be horrible and another lucky team will be able to grab him

[Cactus Jack]

I expect the Texans to release him, he will sit out a year, and another team will pick him up. Really sucks for the Texans though because if they don't cut him the PR will be horrible and another lucky team will be able to grab him

Yeah, I'm not convinced of that. He'll for sure be suspended. But he's still too big of an asset for them to just outright release him.

[goober]

It’s absolutely crazy to me that people still believe this was an inside job on the texans part. If that were the case, the McNairs would be forced to sell, and Watson would be able to make a lot of money off of a defamation suit. It’s too difficult to pull something like that off with the amount of women coming forward. Why is it easier to believe conspiracy than multiple women with very similar stories?

[Pharmcat]

I get it if it’s just one girl. But we are now going to be at 22 women pretty soon (12 right now and 10 more are coming forward).

This is getting passed killing value to keep Watson with Houston. If this goes anywhere Watson’s value isn’t the thing that is tanked, his career is the thing that will be tanked. He won’t be in the NFL anymore.

Yeah, it would basically be impossible to conspire to arrange for so many women to give false testimony on the record. And if any sort of evidence came out that they were coerced by the Texans (evidence which would be certain to come out due to so many people involved, particularly when cooperating with people willing to give false testimony for a payday), it would be lights out for the Texans franchise. So there's no conspiracy here, I'm 100% sure.

btw, just edited my post from saying a team should try to trade for him in hopes this will go away if the suits are settled, but tbh after reading some of the really disturbing testimony, I would not be surprised to see criminal charges appear.

If anyone wants to read more, the Texans Reddit page is detailing the stories: https://www.reddit.com/r/Texans/comments/m8htls/watson_lawsuit_megathread_part_2/

I'm not giving him the benefit of the doubt anymore. Like you said, even if half of the women are lying I find it impossible that there is a conspiracy and have 20+ women involved in this.

I expect the Texans to release him, he will sit out a year, and another team will pick him up. Really sucks for the Texans though because if they don't cut him the PR will be horrible and another lucky team will be able to grab him

best case scenario for Watson is he has a sex addiction that he goes to therapy for settles these cases and gets suspended for 4 games

worse case scenario is he a serial assaulter and who knows where that goes

[Invictus88]

There's 24 different women now; 14 lawsuits already filed. I'm just waiting for the criminal charges to come out. Authorities have to be building a case at this point. At that point his career is almost certainly over.

The optics of him serially forcing his genitals to touch the hands of women are so bad that there's just no way another franchise takes a chance on him. Doing so would literally alienate a large chunk of the fanbase and basically make that franchise a pariah in the league.

[goober]

The 14th accuser alleges Watson said "Don't ever talk about this"

[hermes]

24 different people??? how was this kept quiet until now?

[RIPskaterdude]

There's 24 different women now; 14 lawsuits already filed. I'm just waiting for the criminal charges to come out. Authorities have to be building a case at this point. At that point his career is almost certainly over.

The optics of him serially forcing his genitals to touch the hands of women are so bad that there's just no way another franchise takes a chance on him. Doing so would literally alienate a large chunk of the fanbase and basically make that franchise a pariah in the league.

He's a premier QB in the NFL. He'll sit out a season, get help, community service and some jail time and be back.

[Invictus88]

There's 24 different women now; 14 lawsuits already filed. I'm just waiting for the criminal charges to come out. Authorities have to be building a case at this point. At that point his career is almost certainly over.

The optics of him serially forcing his genitals to touch the hands of women are so bad that there's just no way another franchise takes a chance on him. Doing so would literally alienate a large chunk of the fanbase and basically make that franchise a pariah in the league.

He's a premier QB in the NFL. He'll sit out a season, get help, community service and some jail time and be back.

And *if* he's found guilty of the things he's mentioned of doing then he would be a serial sexual predator. I just don't see how an NFL owner would want to make that the face of their franchise; and it's kind of hard for the QB not to be that.

We are still way, way early in the game but even if only a quarter of those accusations prove true then that's 6 women assaulted. There'd be no way of him saying "I just lost control that one time". This would be repeated sexual assault we are talking about; over a period of years. And in this day and age these things don't get overlooked like they have in the past.

[righterwriter]

Interesting article from Pro Football Talk.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/03/23/the-flaws-in-the-statements-issued-on-behalf-of-deshaun-watson/

Watson's defense so far seems to be centered around this being about blackmail, implicating that any sex that took place was consensual. Testimony from Brian Burney (an employee of Watson who said that an attempt to get money in exchange for silence from one of the civil suit plaintiffs took place last year) released by Watson's lawyer was part of their first big statement to the press since the allegations cam out.

But there's a problem with this, as pointed out in the PFT article:

Burney’s testimony tends to indirectly confirm the notion that Watson was using these massage sessions as a pretext for consensual sex. Which indirectly bolsters the claims from the plaintiffs who allege that Watson wanted more than a massage, and that they objected.

In other words if Deshaun was using these massage sessions as a way to try to have sex, even if somehow it was consensual most of the time (not saying it was), it would lead to many potential situations where women were put in potentially dangerous situations with Watson. Stuck alone in a hotel room with a large, naked NFL player who was there for the sole purpose of wanting to have sex. You can see how this is a stressful and threatening situation for a woman.

I think the communication that took place between Watson and his accusers is what all of this hinges on. If there is nothing there to backup the idea that these 24 (is it 24 now?) women were offering sex in advance of the massage, then I think Watson is certainly going to appear to be guilty of serially plotting the perfect environment for him to commit sexual assault repeatedly.

[anatomicbomb]

Now 20 women have filed lawsuits and 4 more are under consideration with Buzbee.

I think the most important takeaway from this article is:
"Buzbee’s declaration implies that any efforts to resolve these claims will be rejected, and that all 20 cases will proceed to trial"

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/03/26/tony-buzbee-claims-four-more-cases-have-been-filed-against-deshaun-watson/

[goober]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/31158486/lawsuit-accuses-deshaun-watson-deleting-instagram-messages-contacting-accusers-attempt-settle-cases

Watson is now trying to settle after claiming he would let this get to court

[bluejerseyjinx]

I wonder if you can also get a bikini wax there.

[skones]

It’s absolutely crazy to me that people still believe this was an inside job on the texans part. If that were the case, the McNairs would be forced to sell, and Watson would be able to make a lot of money off of a defamation suit. It’s too difficult to pull something like that off with the amount of women coming forward. Why is it easier to believe conspiracy than multiple women with very similar stories?

Late to the party, but, yes, certainly not an "inside job." I DO, however, think that the Texans were shielding Watson from some of this stuff on the back end, and when things got messy, they said, "kk, you're on your own, good luck." Given the sheer volume of accusations, it feels like the Texans were bottle necking this.

With that being said, I don't think that's unique to the Texans or Watson here. I think most NFL teams would go to extraordinary lengths to protect their top guys.

[LAKESHOW]

Dudes got like 35 massage therepists!??!

[bluejerseyjinx]

Dudes got like 35 massage therepists!??!

With all that action down there, I'm surprised Jwise left Houston,