Peyton Manning's accuser speaks out on alleged sexual harassment
A former athletic trainer who accused retired NFL star Peyton Manning of sexual harassment is speaking about the allegations in her first television interview. Jamie Naughright spoke with "Inside Edition" anchor Deborah Norville and accused Manning of inappropriate behavior as she treated him for an injury in 1996. Manning was a 19-year-old All-American quarterback at the University of Tennessee. He maintains he was horsing around with a teammate.
The interview includes never-before-seen video of Manning's 2003 deposition, responding to a defamation suit brought by Naughright.
"I briefly pulled down my pants to so-called 'moon' him," Manning said in the deposition. "One second, one and a half seconds. Pulled my pants back up and continued with Jamie's examination of the bottom of my foot."
Naughright called Manning's account of mooning "a lie" in her "Inside Edition" interview.
"I was repulsed. I was scared. I was intimidated," she said, adding, "It was definitely a predator -- intimidating, anger, violent eyes that he had."
Manning's attorney said in a statement: "Peyton Manning has been absolutely clear: Jamie Naughright's accusations are false. When her claims were first investigated 21 years ago, she told a very different story. Her current account was invented several years later in connection with her first of several groundless litigations against Peyton. Most recently, she left Peyton's mother a vulgar and extremely disturbing voicemail. Ms. Naughright should stop this abusive behavior."
Norville said Monday on "CBS This Morning" that Naughright called a sexual assault hotline and also filed an EEOC complaint after the training room incident, but it wasn't until Peyton and his father, Archie, published a book called "Manning" that Naughright filed a lawsuit.
"In the book, after a nondisclosure agreement had been signed when she left the university both by her and Peyton, the book was published and there was an excerpt that she considered defamatory," Norville said. "Among other things it said she spoke with vulgar language and it mentioned a particular incident. She sued based on the excerpt in the book and there was a financial settlement reached after the judge declined to dismiss the lawsuit. The judge said, quote, there was sufficient evidence to allow the jury to find existence of actual malice on the part of the defendant. So there was a settlement then."
So why is Naughright coming forward again now with this interview?
"Both parties are now free to talk. The reason this has come up more recently is in 2016, a Title IX lawsuit was filed against the University of Tennessee saying that there was a hostile environment and sexual harassment was going on. This was mentioned in that lawsuit and now more recently Harvey Weinstein. She said she's inspired by the women who've come forward," Norville said.
Watch the full report Monday, Oct. 30, 2017 on "Inside Edition."
