BOSTON (CBS) – The accusations against Harvey Weinstein put a spotlight on sexual harassment in the entertainment industry and now a woman offered a job at the website Barstool Sports says she was asked to waive any objections to offensive speech and conduct.
The Boston born media outlet has made a lot of money off selling locker room quality news and talk to mostly teens and young-adult males. At issue now is they demand that a female hire agree to shrug off behavior that could get you fired if you engaged in it elsewhere.
Elika Sadeghi, a sports media professional, says she turned down a sweet job offer at the website Barstool Sports over a clause in their contract. A demand that she expects and agrees to be exposed to in the workplace, “offensive speech, sexual scenarios, suggestive gestures, and references to stereotypes.”
Elika Sadeghi on Barstool Sports (Image credit Barstool Sports)
“This is not ok,” tweeted Sadeghi. “And if you’ve never worked in media, know that it isn’t normal. I’ve never seen anything like it. Neither have most people.”
“Basically it said she couldn’t sue us over offensive remarks, it could be sex, race, creed, whatever. Pretty boilerplate stuff like you work at Saturday Night Live, you sign that,” says Barstool founder Dave Portnoy said in a video posted on Twitter.
Dave Portnoy. Elika Sadeghi and Dan ‘Big Cat’ Katz on Barstool Sports Rundown (Image credit Barstool Sports)
With the Harvey Weinstein scandal front and center Barstool CEO Erika Nardini was quick to draw a defensive distinction, tweeting, “not only with the type of content we create but the process of creating it. There should be no confusion to outsiders between the disclaimer; this contract makes surrounding our content creation and what is deemed acceptable within our workplace culture.”
In other words, Barstool’s content is what they’re peddling, not, they claim, what they’re practicing.
“We’re not saying you can grope somebody, we’re not saying you can sexually harass somebody, we’re saying we’re gonna make jokes and you gotta be cool with it,” says Portnoy.
Sadeghi says she objects to the notion that, “people are made to feel like they can’t speak up about the inexcusable.”
Portnoy claims that doesn’t describe what goes on in his workplace. One thing he said that she likely agrees with, “it would have been a nightmare” if she had taken the job.
