Deshaun Watson will not face criminal charges after being accused of sexual misconduct by 22 Houston-area massage therapists, but the court of public opinion is something entirely different.
Two of Watson’s accusers, Ashley Solis and Kyla Hayes, spoke with Soledad O’Brien for HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” for an episode that airs Tuesday night at 10 pm.
The women spoke about their encounters with the Browns QB.
ASHLEY SOLIS: As I’m working, he deliberately grabs himself and put his penis on my hand. And I pulled my hand away instantly, and I started crying. And I told him that I’m done. I don’t wanna do this anymore.
KYLA HAYES: He wanted me to kinda make a V motion in his pelvic area. So go across his stomach to his thighs, back to his stomach. I just kept massaging and did what he asked until his penis kept touching me repeatedly as I did it. He was moving his penis back and forth as my hands moved as well.
SOLEDAD O’BRIEN: It allowed him to, kind of, put his penis on to your hands?
HAYES: Exactly.
O’BRIEN: And you thought that was intentional?
HAYES: It was intentional
O’BRIEN: So how did it end?
HAYES: At some point, he did ejaculate. That was mortifying and embarrassing and disgusting.
Solis and Hayes also had something to say about the Cleveland Browns rewarding him with a $230 million contract following his trade from the Houston Texans.
SOLIS: It’s just like a big screw you. That’s what it feels like. That we don’t care. He can run and throw, and that’s what we care about.
HAYES: It was sick to me.
O’BRIEN: Why?
HAYES: I felt like he’s being rewarded for bad behavior.
TONY BUZBEE (Lawyer for Watson accusers): I don’t think the team cares about what Deshaun Watson may have done in a massage session. And based on my personal experience with the NFL, I don’t think they care either.
Watson still has civil litigation pending, and faces potential discipline under the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy. He has denied misconduct relating to the massages and maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
