No one likes being accused of things. But, nobody despises it like white men — especially the rich ones. Almost five years after then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh threw a temper tantrum when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee — due to being publicly accused of sexual misconduct in high school and college by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, and Julie Swetnick (Kavanaugh denied all the allegations) — Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill appears to be following in his friend’s footsteps as a former team executive has dropped a bevy of allegations against him.
It’s a hilarious coincidence that the allegations against Bidwill came out the same week that another white, “wealthy,” and privileged white man was indicted on 34 felony counts who, like Bidwill and Kavanaugh, denies everything. There’s a pattern here.
According to former Cardinals executive Terry McDonough, Bidwill is not a nice man. But before we get to the allegations, it’s important to bring up the fact that like Bidwill, McDonough is white. That’s imperative to note because white men at this level rarely tell on each other.
But, back to the accusations, which the team denies on the owner’s behalf.
Allegations of cheating and harassment
McDonough is accusing Bidwill of gross misconduct, including cheating, discrimination, and harassment. There are allegations of breaking the rules to use burner phones to communicate with a suspended front office member (former GM Steve Keim), interfering with McDonough’s career advancement, and mistreatment of Black employees and pregnant women.
“We are reluctantly obliged to provide a public response along with broader context for some disappointing and irresponsible actions by Terry McDonough,” external public relations adviser to the Cardinals Jim McCarthy said in a statement. “Claims he has made in an arbitration filing are wildly false, reckless, and an opportunistic ploy for financial gain.
“That’s why we are saddened to see that Terry is now lashing out at our organization with disparagements and threats that are absurdly at odds with the facts. This unnecessary and vindictive action by Terry was intended to malign his co-workers, our owner Michael Bidwill, and our team with outlandish accusations.”
The allegations are eyebrow-raising, especially if you’re aware of Bidwill’s past. Let’s take a look.
In 2018, Bidwill publicly supported Kavanaugh, as the main story on the Cardinals website was once titled, “Michael Bidwill Backs Classmate For Supreme Court.” There was also an official tweet from the team’s Twitter account declaring support. Mind you, this was when Trump kept sticking his nose in the NFL’s business, players were kneeling, the country was having a debate about the role of politics in athletics as the “stick to sports” mantra was created, and Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid were suing the league for collusion.
2018 was also the year in which the guy who is now being accused of workplace misconduct, was named to the NFL’s Workplace Diversity Committee. Days later, Bidwill would fire Steve Wilks, his Black head coach, after only one season on the job. Wilks is part of Brian Flores’ class-action lawsuit that’s suing the league for racist hiring practices.
And just last month, a report from the NFLPA that evaluated team working conditions ranked Bidwill’s franchise second to last, as the graded categories included; treatment of families (F), nutrition (F-), weight room (F-), strength staff (A-), training room (F-), training staff (B+) and locker room (F).
Kavanaugh, who is now a Supreme Court Justice, has yet to make a public claim backing Bidwill. Nonetheless, Michael Bidwill lives in a state in which Robert Sarver made billions for selling the Phoenix Suns after it was discovered that he also was horrible to his employees, and is in a league that’s commissioned by Roger Goodell. Another rich white dude is about to “allegedly” get away with it — again.