As we delve deeper into the online NFL betting offseason, sportsbook players would naturally want to keep an eye out for the latest signings, transactions, and trades. However, the latest news out of the NFL involves something no NFL betting line could’ve predicted.
The NFL, NFL Films specifically, is facing litigation from a disgruntled former employee who claims that her several of her employers harassed her during her 20-year tenure with the company.
Nadia Axakowsky is the employee in question. Axakowsky’s website lists her as “the first female football narrators of the NFL.” Additionally, she has appeared in several other commercials, films, and TV shows.
According to Axakowsky, she began working for NFL Films in 1997 and thereafter was the victim of sexual harassment and unwelcome comments from several of her higher-ups.
Axakowsky claims that a supervisor – who remained unnamed and left NFL Films in 2003 – would continuously ask her out for dates and repeatedly threatened her, saying that she would lose her job if she did not accept eventually.
The suit alleges that another unnamed supervisor would often witness these events, but would refrain from intervening. This supposedly happened during the time she was working on a certain ‘NFL Blast’ program – a relatively unknown program in the sportsbook community.
From here Axakowsky would drop the first name, Glenn Adamo. Axakowsky claimed that Adamo sexually harassed her for the next 13 years of her time with the company, while working on ‘Billboard Girl’. The suit asserts that Adamo groped Axakowsky several times.
The NFL did not have a lengthy response. Brian McCarthy, VP of communications for the NFL, stated that the litigation ‘has no merit’. NJ.com broke the news and tried to reach out to Adamo, but the defendant has yet to respond.
That original online NFL betting article didn’t cover much details, but what it did reveal was startling (if true). Below are the most damning claims the article covered:
- Adamo would regularly on Axakowsky’s appearance, telling her how pretty she was and that he wanted to ‘smother her with millions of kisses’.
- Adamo would demand personal gratitude from Axakowsky for any pay increases or career accomplishments. When she would go to thank him Adamo would proceed to grope her.
- Kevin McLoughlin, was told by Axakowsky of Adamo’s advancements but never addressed the situation.
Proftooballtalk was able to attain a copy of the complaint and revealed some claims to the sportsbook world that were even more bewildering.
In 2006, Adamo paid a visit to Axakowsky in her home while she was still recovering from childbirth and still dealing with postpartum depression. From here, the litigation claims that Adamo ‘proceed[ed] to attack Plaintiff.”
“He shoved her down on the couch, kissed her, and forcibly fondled and sexually groped Plaintiff.”
There was also some more revelations regarding the claims of Axakowsky having to thank Adamo. During one of those ‘thanking’ sessions, in 2012, Adamo demanded a hug from the plaintiff. He then “grabbed Plaintiff’s buttocks, groped, and kissed her.”
There were some more inflammatory claims covered in the article, but that covers the gist of it. Whatever the case may be, this spells bad news for the NFL.
It’s no online NFL betting secret that the league has a problem with domestic abuse and unwarranted sexual advances, even with its biggest stars [Ben Roethlisberger]. If the problem extends to the league itself, there’s no way families will still want to buy or share this product with their children.
