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‘In the best interest of the organization’: Jerry Jones addresses Cowboys’ cheerleader settlement

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones spoke on the record for the first time about the $2.4 million settlement the club reached with four team cheerleaders in 2016 over accusations of voyeurism. The incident, involving former Cowboys senior PR man Rich Dalrymple, occurred in 2015 and was brought to light earlier this month in an ESPN article.

Jones was interviewed by Meredith Land of NBC-5 in Dallas on Friday before an event honoring him for his contributions to cancer research. Land took the opportunity to also get the 79-year-old’s first public comments about the scandal.

When asked about why the Cowboys elected to reach a settlement with the cheerleaders, Jones had this to say:

“First of all, the cheerleaders are an iconic- a vital- part of what our organization is, the Dallas Cowboys. And so we took these allegations very seriously. We immediately began a look-see, an investigation into the situation. I can assure you that had we found that it need be, there would have been firings or there would have been suspicion. As it turns out, in the best interest of our cheerleaders, in the best interest of the organization, in the best interest of our fans, what we decided to do was show the cheerleaders how seriously we took these allegations and we wanted them to know that we were real serious, and so the settlement was the way to go.”

Jones uses the phrase in the best interest three times in his answer, referring to the cheerleaders whose privacy was violated, the team’s considerable fanbase, and the worldwide brand that is the Dallas Cowboys organization. Whether reaching a large cash settlement behind closed doors and swearing all parties to secrecy with a non-disclosure agreement was actually the best outcome for all three of those entities is highly debatable.

Dalrymple continued to work for the Cowboys for another six years after the incident. ESPN reported that his access to the cheerleaders’ locker room was revoked, a disciplinary letter was placed in his personnel file, and security changes were made to relevant areas of AT&T Stadium.

Dalrymple announced his retirement suddenly on February 2, ending a 32-year tenure with the franchise.

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