Editor’s note: This story contains accounts of sexual assault. If you or someone you know is a survivor of sexual assault, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or at https://www.rainn.org.
Andrea Thome, the wife of former Cleveland baseball player Jim Thome, announced on Twitter that her family canceled their season tickets for Browns games Friday after the team introduced quarterback Deshaun Watson.
“Officially cancelled our Browns season tickets today and asked for a refund as they were paid in full,” she said in the tweet. “Very sad after 40 years as a fan, but this is my line in the sand. I believe women. Especially when there are 22 of them. That press conference did nothing to change my mind.”
Cleveland introduced Watson during a Friday press conference after a Harris County, Texas grand jury returned nine “no” bills on nine criminal complaints against Watson, who is still facing 22 active civil lawsuits that detail graphic accounts of sexual harassment and sexual assault that occurred during massage therapy sessions.
These accounts range from Watson refusing to cover his genitals to “touching [a plaintiff] with his penis and trying to force her to perform oral sex on him.” According to Jenny Vrentas of The New York Times, the criminal complaints he previously faced involved similar descriptions, including Watson’s ejaculating on them and either other forms of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault.
During the press conference, Watson denied assaulting, harassing or disrespecting any woman. But the Thome family, as well as some other fans, don’t seem to be buying it. Andrea added that if the Browns don’t refund the tickets, she would auction off every one of their tickets and publicly donate the money to different women’s crisis charities.
Her husband, Jim, is a Hall of Famer who spent 12 seasons in Cleveland, where he was named an All-Star three times.
