The mother of a woman at the centre of an NFL video scandal says she’s worried for her daughter after the footage of the 24-year-old dancing with a coach went viral.
Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer found himself embroiled in a social media storm after footage of him with the woman spread like wildfire across the internet.
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The 57-year-old was already facing mounting scrutiny after the Jaguars’ winless start, however that attention intensified after a video of Meyer dancing with a woman in a bar went viral.
The video showed Meyer sitting at the bar of the Urban Chophouse restaurant in Ohio, while a woman who was not his wife was dancing on top of him.
Meyer said the video had left members of his family “upset” with him and the coach was forced to apologise for his actions, which have been the talk of American football over the last few days.
The young lady in the footage has also found herself at the centre of an ugly storm, with her mother admitting she’s concerned for the 24-year-old’s mental wellbeing.
“(She) can’t even go anywhere. It’s ruining her life is what it’s doing,” her mother told USA Today Sports.
“I’m worried for her emotional status right now.”
The identity of the 24-year-old woman has not been disclosed due to the backlash the family has received since the footage went viral.
The backlash has also affected the woman’s employers, New Horizon Media Group, which has launched an internal investigation into the incident.
The woman’s mother said she hoped the company “doesn’t fire” her daughter over the scandal because she “just bought a house”.
A lawyer for the company said it was “going to undertake our internal investigation to determine what, if any, impact this has on the company and we’ll proceed accordingly”.
It’s unknown if the woman in the video had any previous relationship with Meyer.
Meyer has been apologising to various groups since the video went viral, and on Wednesday morning he reportedly apologised to the entire team for his actions.
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“I just apologised to the team and the staff for being a distraction,” Meyer said.
“Just stupid.
“I explained everything that happened and owned it. Just stupid, shouldn’t have myself in that kind of position.”
While it wasn’t a good look for Meyer overall, it was also notable that he was still in Ohio — he was a highly successful coach at Ohio State — while his team is still winless this season.
He said he “stayed to see the grandkids and we all went to dinner that night,” and there was a big group next to theirs.
“They wanted me to come over and take pictures, and I did,” Meyer said. “They’re trying to pull me out on the dance floor, screwing around, I should have left.”
Meyer said the players were receptive to his apology.
He said he talked one-on-one with the Jaguars’ leaders as well as the whole team.
Meyer’s family have also addressed the scandal on social media, with his wife Shelley writing on her since-deleted Twitter account: “This will be my last post on Twitter. Frankly, I don’t need the hate, vitriol, slander, trash that will @ me. We all make mistakes. We are all sinners. If you think you aren’t? Then cast the first stone.”
Meyer’s daughter Gigi also confirmed the family was “moving on” from the controversy and is still in a good place despite the enormous blow-back.
“We all decided we’re gonna move on, alright?” Gigi said on her Instagram story.
“We’re moving on and life is good. We are blessed. I have the most incredible family in the entire world.”
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