Melissa Weishaupt worked in marketing and game operations for the Mavericks from 2010 to 2014. She spoke to Sports Illustrated for its damning look at the team’s hostile workplace culture, much of which centered on former team president Terdema Ussery’s long history of sexual harassment and the HR department’s complete inability to do anything about it. She was one of the women that Ussery is alleged to have harassed, but her name didn’t appear in that piece. But this morning, again for SI, she put her name on it, as a response to Ussery’s statement that he was “deeply disappointed that anonymous sources have made such outright false and inflammatory accusations against me.” But not just because of that.
I’m using my name because I’m still not sure the Mavericks get it. Since the story broke, owner Mark Cuban has repeatedly claimed he oversaw only the basketball side of that franchise, not the business side.
Sorry. It doesn’t work that way. You own 100% of the team, Mark. The buck stops with you. When I worked on the Mavs’ business side, all marketing, promotional and broadcasting decisions went through you. Nothing was decided without your approval.
I am using my name because I am convinced that Cuban still doesn’t recognize the culture he’s helped create or the plight of the women who still work for him. From where I sit, Mark’s response was to rush in like some white knight in a T-shirt and jeans and yell, Don’t worry, ladies of the Mavs, I will help you with paid counseling and a hotline you can call!
Read the whole thing here.
