Sexual assault lawsuit filed against QB DeShaun Watson

Ed Hillel

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This is crazy. The man is a good looking, young professional athlete. What the fuck is he thinking? There are a dozen apps where he could have put himself out there, been a decent person, and gotten consensual pleasure. Instead he resorts to this. At some point, it has to become a pattern where he realizes he is making these women uncomfortable at best and that life isn’t (always) like porn movies.

Civilly, and from the NFL perspective, he’s in trouble. Criminally is another story, we’ll see, but there definitely seems some risk with this many alleged victims.
Glutes are the biggest muscles in the body. There are many completely non-sexual reasons an athlete would need his glutes worked. If anything his texts show him being upfront and respectful.
In and of themselves, I agree. But when you have nine women now saying similar things, it becomes a lot easier to see that as his way of testing the waters. I wonder if he thinks that’s some code word amongst masseuses for sex being ok or something.
 

bsj

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Glutes are the biggest muscles in the body. There are many completely non-sexual reasons an athlete would need his glutes worked. If anything his texts show him being upfront and respectful.
Completely naive question here but- do players have access to team training staff off season? Or are they all in their own until the season starts?
 

BigSoxFan

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Pardon the source since it came up in my Twitter feed but the lawyer is providing some of those texts he talked about. Hadn’t seen them posted also where in the thread. If they’re legit then clearly something happened that he felt the need to apologize for.

https://dailysnark.com/2021/03/18/lawyer-suing-deshaun-watson-releases-texts-messages-showing-proof-of-sexual-assault/?fbclid=IwAR2S9NallDMHbG6WQHzoEQZOESjXRfUNIfm0tY1KV9DxM5YH2t5qi4yjkAk


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Doesn’t prove wrongdoing but he clearly felt the need to apologize for...something. Not a good look when you consider there are 8 others with similar claims.
 

jezza1918

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Sorry in advance if this doesn't belong here but I'm quite literally shaking with anger: I just heard a nearly 30 year detective spout off on EEI that this has to be a money grab because in his experience the first thing a woman does after a sexual assault is file a police report. I almost drove off the road.
When this story first surfaced, I'll be honest - part of me was waffling between Watson being a bad human; or (tinfoil hat warning) a rich, racist white owner putting a black man in his place (I do think my perspective is slightly skewed with an overload of racial equality reading lately). But now we are up to 3 civil suits, with apparently 6 more pending? Even if the released texts don't show much, the below quote is entirely where my line of thinking is currently at.

This is crazy. The man is a good looking, young professional athlete. What the fuck is he thinking? There are a dozen apps where he could have put himself out there, been a decent person, and gotten consensual pleasure. Instead he resorts to this. At some point, it has to become a pattern where he realizes he is making these women uncomfortable at best and that life isn’t (always) like porn movies.

Civilly, and from the NFL perspective, he’s in trouble. Criminally is another story, we’ll see, but there definitely seems some risk with this many alleged victims.
In and of themselves, I agree. But when you have nine women now saying similar things, it becomes a lot easier to see that as his way of testing the waters. I wonder if he thinks that’s some code word amongst masseuses for sex being ok or something.
 

Ralphwiggum

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The thing is, if he's trolling the internet looking for someone who will give him a massage with extras, it's super easy to find women who will do that consensually, and much more, particularly if you have money. If he's making these women uncomfortable he's either hiring legit masseuses and asking them to do something they aren't comfortable with, or he's hiring women who will give him the extras and yet he's doing something in the session that is causing them to change their mind. Either way at best it's a super bad look and even though it was a pipe dream to begin with I'm glad the Pats didn't trade away their entire draft for this guy.

Edit: I'm reacting to the apologetic texts. I have no issue with anyone hiring a sex worker assuming all parties are going into the relationship consensually. If that's all he did he should just be up front about it, I don't think most people would care. But a text after a session apologizing for . . . something isn't a great look.
 
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RG33

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Glutes are the biggest muscles in the body. There are many completely non-sexual reasons an athlete would need his glutes worked. If anything his texts show him being upfront and respectful.
Almost every single massage I have gotten, the female masseuse has asked “are you comfortable with me working the glutes” (which I whimperishly answer “that’s fine” and then uncomfortably allow them to massage my skinny ass). It is usually always because when asked about what areas of focus, I answer “lower back” and “shoulders” and you cannot properly massage out lower back tightness without hitting the glutes (and hamstrings).

With that said, it does feel really strange that he is asking in advance to a professional masseuse and then following up with the “sorry” text about making her uncomfortable. No professional masseuse is going to be uncomfortable due to massaging glutes — it is common practice. Something else obviously happened in my opinion — and I don’t know if what that was crossed the line into sexual assault, but it was more than just asking her to massage his butt.
 

JM3

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I'm not a massage guy... there has to be ways to make your masseuse more comfortable than your own small personal towel, right?

Also, the lack of bathroom availability is weird to me, but that's probably not relevant to anything.
 

RG33

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I'm not a massage guy... there has to be ways to make your masseuse more comfortable than your own small personal towel, right?

Also, the lack of bathroom availability is weird to me, but that's probably not relevant to anything.
I mean, I wear boxer briefs. I have never done a massage fully naked. They usually tuck up the bottom of the boxer briefs to access the upper thigh/hamstrings, but I don’t know why you would need to be fully naked for them to work the glutes (although, I am not saying that being naked is intrisincally “creepy”, just what my comfort level is).
 

Ralphwiggum

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First time I ever got a massage I left the boxer briefs on and the masseuse asked me to take them off, since then every one I've gotten I've always been fully naked (covered by a towel or blanket, of course), for male and female practitioners. But, if you lay there and let the masseuse do her job, there's pretty much no way she's going to get uncomfortable about anything. In order to be apologizing afterwards, he crossed some line.
 

Jettisoned

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It doesn't mean the texts aren't relevant, though. If his text was vague - something like, "Sorry about earlier!" - than there would be no relevance. Or at least no ability to tie this to anything. But he explicitly stated he was apologizing for making her uncomfortable. That does lend some credence to her claim. If he didn't do anything, and she got uncomfortable doing a normal massage, Watson wouldn't have apologized as he would have nothing to apologize for. Something made her uncomfortable that he took responsibility and apologized for.



Not just are there nearly a dozen women at this point, but I believe the lawyer explicitly stated that all the woman were filing the minimum claim possible ($500) to get this into civil court. The goal wasn't money, it was to get exposure to this issue. Are there other ways for them to make money on this? I guess. But this seems to go counter to the "money grab" claim.

Look, this dude was grabbing women off IG, using a massage as a ruse, and then trying to fuck them. Watson has a full set of tools at his disposal. He has team trainers, other players who have masseuses' they use, a full cadre of resources to find the best massage therapists in the Houston area or the fucking world. You're telling me the best way for him to get a Swedish massage is by DM'ing random girls on IG that say they give massages and will travel? Of course he was trying to fuck these women. And I dont give a fuck about that. Im cool with sex workers and people that use them. Not my business. But it sounds like he tried acting on his impulses without getting confirmation that sex was on the table. And if thats the case, and these women didn't agree, then what he did is absolutely sexual harassment.

Again, innocent until proven guilty, but this is bad for Watson. Like, career ending. Which, if these claims are true, is great. Fuck guys like this.
Whatever happened in this case, hiring "masseuses" for sex services is probably one of those situations where the even the way it's commonly practiced leads to ambiguous consent situations pretty easily, up there with sexual relations work subordinates or drunk sex with strangers.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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Whatever happened in this case, hiring "masseuses" for sex services is probably one of those situations where the even the way it's commonly practiced leads to ambiguous consent situations pretty easily, up there with sexual relations work subordinates or drunk sex with strangers.
I mean...is it that difficult, though? Either they take the lead or they dont. There's no ambiguity in that service area. The woman that perform extra are going to want to make more money. They'll let you know, one way or another. Pretty much same as normal sex.
 

Jettisoned

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I mean...is it that difficult, though? Either they take the lead or they dont. There's no ambiguity in that service area. The woman that perform extra are going to want to make more money. They'll let you know, one way or another. Pretty much same as normal sex.
I've never done anything like this before, so I don't know, but I'm assuming that people don't usually explicitly say "I'll do [sexual favor] for $x extra" and that the terms are spelled out via some subtler implication than that. I'm not trying to imply anything about this specific case, I'm just pointing out that making prostitution illegal and allowing workarounds like this makes it way riskier for everybody.
 

johnmd20

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I've never done anything like this before, so I don't know, but I'm assuming that people don't usually explicitly say "I'll do [sexual favor] for $x extra" and that the terms are spelled out via some subtler implication than that. I'm not trying to imply anything about this specific case, I'm just pointing out that making prostitution illegal and allowing workarounds like this makes it way riskier for everybody.
"Do you do glutes" really sounds like code to me.

I've had a ton of legit massages over the years. It's not ever sexual. My glutes have not once come up at any point.
 

Ralphwiggum

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"Do you do glutes" really sounds like code to me.

I've had a ton of legit massages over the years. It's not ever sexual. My glutes have not once come up at any point.
This. Normal massages just aren't sexual in any way, shape or form. Also if you are hiring someone willing to provide extras you know that going in. It is not that hard to find ads for them on-line, they don't advertise in the same places as legitimate massage therapists. Maybe he didn't want to risk hiring an actual sex worker, but either way if he's making massage therapists uncomfortable he's crossing lines.
 

BigSoxFan

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"Do you do glutes" really sounds like code to me.

I've had a ton of legit massages over the years. It's not ever sexual. My glutes have not once come up at any point.
Yeah, same. I feel like any serious or professional masseuse/masseur does glutes but possible I’m wrong.

Just feels like that’s the cover for the behavior that he is allegedly going after.
 

Traut

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If he’s trying to hire sex workers without saying the magic words, then he’s an idiot. Because “masseuses”’who go the extra mile make it very obvious. They are running a business, after all.

Either there’s more to this story than we are being led to believe by this lawyer or Watson gets off on trying to get people to cross boundaries.

I suppose he could be a fucking idiot.
If he is trying to hire sex workers - I don't think that's hard to do. Bob Kraft certainly had no problem finding a massage place that did exactly what he wanted done.

Maybe Watson isn't that smart. Maybe the texts are incriminating. But without more than that - those texts on a scale from zero to a Favre dick pick are like a 3 at best.
 

Otto

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For whatever this is worth, every established NFL veteran works out at a specialized training facility in the offseason - some spend more of their offseason doing that than others, of course. Those places have position coaches, speed coaches, strength coaches, chiropractors, athletic trainers, and massage therapists. They also market themselves very well - a player of Watson's status has that information at his fingertips. If a player like him texted his agent or his trainer he could have a massage appointment through those types of channels in a matter of hours. Not only that, the Houston area is loaded with high-end training options with every amenity possible. During the offseason, players from all over come to Houston (and to Atlanta, LA, Arizona, or South Florida) to get that type of training and treatment.
 

Captaincoop

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If he is trying to hire sex workers - I don't think that's hard to do. Bob Kraft certainly had no problem finding a massage place that did exactly what he wanted done.

Maybe Watson isn't that smart. Maybe the texts are incriminating. But without more than that - those texts on a scale from zero to a Favre dick pick are like a 3 at best.
Compared to the texts the NFL used to suspend Brady a few years back, these are a smoking gun.
 

Mooch

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With this many women alleging that Watson has committed these crimes, there's no way that the team or his teammates didn't know about it, at least in terms of rumors. I would bet that some of these happened during the season, possibly on the road. Will the suit expand to include the Texans too? Did they somehow know about this and not put a stop to it?
 

luckiestman

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If he is trying to hire sex workers - I don't think that's hard to do. Bob Kraft certainly had no problem finding a massage place that did exactly what he wanted done.

He wants to choose the women, c’mon. If his ass is so tight he needs it massaged all the time you would think he would hire someone that was great at that job and be a repeat customer.
 

luckiestman

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With this many women alleging that Watson has committed these crimes, there's no way that the team or his teammates didn't know about it, at least in terms of rumors. I would bet that some of these happened during the season, possibly on the road. Will the suit expand to include the Texans too? Did they somehow know about this and not put a stop to it?
They might have know he was hiring sex workers but might not have known that some of those hired were not actually sex workers. I don’t think QB1 is telling rape stories after team meetings.
 

Pandemonium67

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He's reached double digits and it's only been a couple of days. I don't think he'll reach Cosby numbers, but he's probably already approaching "guilty until proven innocent" numbers in the court of public opinion.
 

Auger34

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Is the way that this lawyer is handling this normal? He seems to be making it all about himself and seeking a lot of publicity which seems kind of odd...
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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For whatever this is worth, every established NFL veteran works out at a specialized training facility in the offseason - some spend more of their offseason doing that than others, of course. Those places have position coaches, speed coaches, strength coaches, chiropractors, athletic trainers, and massage therapists. They also market themselves very well - a player of Watson's status has that information at his fingertips. If a player like him texted his agent or his trainer he could have a massage appointment through those types of channels in a matter of hours. Not only that, the Houston area is loaded with high-end training options with every amenity possible. During the offseason, players from all over come to Houston (and to Atlanta, LA, Arizona, or South Florida) to get that type of training and treatment.
As always, thanks for the insight. It's what I was trying to get at, but comes across much better from someone "in the know".
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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With this many women alleging that Watson has committed these crimes, there's no way that the team or his teammates didn't know about it, at least in terms of rumors. I would bet that some of these happened during the season, possibly on the road. Will the suit expand to include the Texans too? Did they somehow know about this and not put a stop to it?
I think that's a bridge too far right now.

Dude messages girls on IG then gets massages or BJs. I know some guys that find random hook ups multiple times a week. I'd have no idea if any of those hookups were forced or not. Watson is a starting NFL QB. Hooking up with random women shouldnt be a shock, and assuming hes sexually assaulting or raping them wouldnt be at the front of most people's minds.
 

rodderick

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Is the way that this lawyer is handling this normal? He seems to be making it all about himself and seeking a lot of publicity which seems kind of odd...
I don't know if it's normal, but at this point he's taking all the fire instead of the victims which I think is at least part of the intent here.
 

djbayko

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Jesus. Potentially 22 cases? So either Watson is the victim of the greatest and most sophisticated money grab in history, or, he's an Epstein-lite predator without the pedophilia.
If he's found this many women already, he should have an assistant cold calling massueses from the Houston area on CraigsList and Backpage. Maybe he does.
 

SoxinSeattle

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Thank fuck the Pat's or any other team didn't trade the farm for this guy last week and then have this surprise pop up.
What the hell is wrong with some men?
 

Mooch

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I think that's a bridge too far right now.

Dude messages girls on IG then gets massages or BJs. I know some guys that find random hook ups multiple times a week. I'd have no idea if any of those hookups were forced or not. Watson is a starting NFL QB. Hooking up with random women shouldnt be a shock, and assuming hes sexually assaulting or raping them wouldnt be at the front of most people's minds.
That’s fair. My mind always goes to “institutional cover-up for star player” land. Probably too soon to speculate.
 

NJ_Sox_Fan

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I was a huge proponent of trade all the draft capital plus whatever else for Watson. Thank god this didn’t happen prior to this coming out. At this point I think it’s pretty clear this guy is another in a long line of piece of shit human beings who play pro sports.
 

Norm loves Vera

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This seems odd to me, what is the lawyer waiting for? More clients? Kinda late to settle out of court by now I would think but I am not a lawyer. Tweet is from just before 7pm est.

Houston Police@houstonpolice
At this time, HPD is unaware of any contact between HPD and Houston attorney Tony Buzbee regarding the allegations contained in his recently filed lawsuits and no incident reports regarding these allegations have been filed in our jurisdiction.
 

Traut

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This seems odd to me, what is the lawyer waiting for? More clients? Kinda late to settle out of court by now I would think but I am not a lawyer. Tweet is from just before 7pm est.

Houston Police@houstonpolice
At this time, HPD is unaware of any contact between HPD and Houston attorney Tony Buzbee regarding the allegations contained in his recently filed lawsuits and no incident reports regarding these allegations have been filed in our jurisdiction.
It is a violation of professional ethics to attempt to use criminal charges or the threat of them to gain leverage in a civil suit. There is nothing stopping his clients from reporting them. But Watson will be well defended, and if you are a plaintiff's lawyer in this case, you steer clear of ethical landmines as you can bet Watson's legal team will rake you over them.
 

Saints Rest

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It is a violation of professional ethics to attempt to use criminal charges or the threat of them to gain leverage in a civil suit. There is nothing stopping his clients from reporting them. But Watson will be well defended, and if you are a plaintiff's lawyer in this case, you steer clear of ethical landmines as you can bet Watson's legal team will rake you over them.
This feels like a noteworthy news item. Lawyer to start to present evidence to Houston police on Monday:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/31103625/lawyer-representing-women-plans-submit-evidence-affidavits-deshaun-watson-case-monday
Aside from not using criminal charges as a threat/leveragea in the civil suit, does a lawyer whose client brings a civil suit required to report those actions to the police when those actions are criminal in nature? Or does he/she simply need to show the client that criminal action could also be in play and urge/recommend they bring them to the police?

Or in a situation where the civil suit becomes public knowledge (as in the Watson situation), and the police go to the lawyer seeking info about possible criminal charges, what is the lawyer's responsibility to the police vs his/her client? IOW, does attorney/client privilege supersede the criminal investigation when the client is presumed,ably the victim not the perpetrator?
 

mauf

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Aside from not using criminal charges as a threat/leveragea in the civil suit, does a lawyer whose client brings a civil suit required to report those actions to the police when those actions are criminal in nature? Or does he/she simply need to show the client that criminal action could also be in play and urge/recommend they bring them to the police?

Or in a situation where the civil suit becomes public knowledge (as in the Watson situation), and the police go to the lawyer seeking info about possible criminal charges, what is the lawyer's responsibility to the police vs his/her client? IOW, does attorney/client privilege supersede the criminal investigation when the client is presumed,ably the victim not the perpetrator?
The lawyer is under no obligation to advise his/her client to report a crime to police (except in circumstances where the client has a legal duty to report, but that’s inapplicable here). The attorney may not provide any information to the police, even under subpoena, without the client’s consent (again, subject to exceptions not applicable here).
 

Bowser

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Question for the lawyers in the room:

Let's say Plaintiff 1 has a strong case against Watson, and so she contacts Buzbee. Recognizing a possible pattern of wrongdoing, Buzbee scours Watson's social media to uncover other potential plaintiffs. How likely is it -- as a matter both of probability and ethics -- that Buzbee would get these women to sign on by indicating they may be in for a pay day without ever having to file charges, prove their case, or perhaps even lose their anonymity?

In other words, is it possible Watson is guilty of one or two criminal acts rather than 22+, and that Buzbee is merely leveraging these other names/suits as a way to force a quick settlement, knowing that Watson is in no position to parse which of these engagements was consensual and which was not?
 

Manuel Aristides

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Question for the lawyers in the room:

Let's say Plaintiff 1 has a strong case against Watson, and so she contacts Buzbee. Recognizing a possible pattern of wrongdoing, Buzbee scours Watson's social media to uncover other potential plaintiffs. How likely is it -- as a matter both of probability and ethics -- that Buzbee would get these women to sign on by indicating they may be in for a pay day without ever having to file charges, prove their case, or perhaps even lose their anonymity?

In other words, is it possible Watson is guilty of one or two criminal acts rather than 22+, and that Buzbee is merely leveraging these other names/suits as a way to force a quick settlement, knowing that Watson is in no position to parse which of these engagements was consensual and which was not?

I mean, it's possible, but asking 'how likely is it' while throwing out a wild theory like this is a pretty strange way to try and give yourself permission to disbelieve two dozen women.
 

Bowser

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I mean, it's possible, but asking 'how likely is it' while throwing out a wild theory like this is a pretty strange way to try and give yourself permission to disbelieve two dozen women.
I'm not trying to disbelieve the women. I'm merely asking a procedural question, as in: is this how some attorneys operate? As far as I know, Buzbee has filed seven lawsuits, intends to file five more "in due course," and may submit "several" affidavits to the Houston Police and Houston District Attorney this morning. If you've got the goods, why draw out the process and try Watson in the court of public opinion? I'm asking, "Is this standard?"

I'm also trying to figure out where on the Non-criminal D-bag -> Serial-Criminal-Recidivist-D-bag spectrum Watson likely falls.
 

EvilEmpire

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I don't think he's drawing out the process as a tactic. I think early publicity is causing more people to come forward and it takes time to collect that information, review it, and file additional complaints.

Edit: the use of publicity in such a way is tactical, and I think, reasonable. But again, I don't think the intent is to draw out the process.