Just when the Dianna Russini and Mike Vrabel scandal was dying down a bit, The New York Times released a long story about the popular NFL reporter.
The report stated that Russini earned an annual salary of around $800,000 and that she used her personal connections with the head coaches to resolve personal issues, such as dodging a police ticket.
Former Super Bowl champ LeSean McCoy sided with Russini, who is facing a lot of scrutiny for her actions in the whole scenario, even after quitting her job at The Athletic.
During Wednesday’s episode of Speakeasy, the former Super Bowl champ said:
“I read what she said when she was resigning. I read what she said, and I think her integrity and her respect for her and her family is bigger than some money. That’s why she said she left because dragging her family in it, her kids in it, and all her husband in it. All because she wanted to hang out with a friend of hers. Y’all, y’all want to play? Listen, there hasn’t been no true, true facts for real. Some pictures that look—a video that stopped and froze. I don’t do all that. I live in the gray area and I know what’s really going on. …
“That the media loves negativity. That the media want to talk bad about you. They don’t want to say anything good about her, about him. So, they slow a video down. ‘Oh, look. They’re kissing. Look, they’re doing this. Look, look, bro.’ Unless I see a real video of him kissing her, grabbing her, him doing something to her, I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that.”
Mike Florio Highlights Major Issue in Dianna Russini’s Ticket Story
Mike Florio reacted to the story Russini shared during one of her podcasts a few months ago, in which she was busted for texting while driving with her kids in the car.
Russini narrated that while she first told the police officer she was breaking big news about the Bills firing Sean McDermott, when that didn’t work, she used another tactic. She offered to call the police officer’s favorite head coach, which she did, and eventually didn’t get the ticket.
Florio reacted to the story and pointed out the conflict of interest it raises.
“That’s the kind of thing that shows there’s a conflict of interest. Now she owes something to that coach. That coach helped her avoid a ticket. She owes something to that coach. These are the conflicts of interest and appearance of conflict of interest that the New York Times editorial guidelines and, by way of extension, The Athletic editorial guidelines try to avoid,” Florio said.
Florio added that while other publications might be OK with this, the New York Times isn’t, which is why it became a big story.
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