*UPDATED*
In a report from BuzzFeed early Friday afternoon, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston is being investigated by the NFL for allegedly groping an Uber driver back in 2016.
The NFL Is Investigating Jameis Winston For Allegedly Groping An Uber Driver In 2016 https://t.co/lxJVA1EIyx via @talalnansari
— Mary Ann Georgantopoulos (@marygeorgant) November 17, 2017
“The League has been informed that you may have been the victim of such a violation perpetrated by Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Jameis Winston. The League takes allegations of this nature very seriously and has opened an investigation into this matter,” a letter to the driver from the NFL, sent Thursday. (From Buzzfeed)
Per the report, the alleged victim, a female Uber driver, was scheduled to pick up a rider around 2 a.m. in Scottsdale, Arizona. In talking with BuzzFeed, the alleged victim told BuzzFeed News that she was told she would be chauffeuring a famous person that night – Winston.
The alleged victim went on to tell BuzzFeed that Winston was the only passenger in the car. “I started driving, and right away, [Winston] behaved poorly.” The alleged victim noted said that Winston was shouting homophobic slurs at pedestrians.
According to the alleged victim, Winston requested that they stop for food, so they did at Los Betos Mexican Food. The alleged victim went on to say, “he reached over and he just grabbed my crotch,” then went on to say Winston held his hand there for three to five seconds.
Social posts show Winston was around the Scottsdale, AZ area at the time of the alleged incident.
Images and social posts show Winston was around Scottsdale, AZ (place of the alleged incident) on March 12, 2016 at Kurt Warner's flag football charity event.
(Photo: @Cardschatter) pic.twitter.com/uZte9VXFgI
— Trevor Sikkema (@TampaBayTre) November 17, 2017
Winston’s representative, Russ Spielman, issued a statement denying the allegations: “We categorically deny this allegation. It is our understanding the Uber driver was unable to identify the specific individual who allegedly touched this driver inappropriately. The only reason his name is being dragged in to this is that his Uber account was used to call the ride.”
Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter said the team is aware of the report and that the team will be issuing a statement later today.
As a result of the report, Uber has banned Winston from their services.
https://twitter.com/SInow/status/931574097959620609
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About the Author: Trevor Sikkema
Oh my
So a full year later from a woman who can’t identify the man in the car comes up? I will wait for the facts, however if this is true, Jameis is in some deep shit to me.
Actually the way I read the article, she informed Uber immediately of the incident, and Uber banned the rider’s account. The account belonged to Winston. Then she left it at that for a year.
Winston is claiming that wasn’t him in the car. Maybe he will claim he used HIS account to hire a ride for a friend? Seems like a stretch though.
Jameis Winston is banned from using Uber. Freaking Uber won’t let him book a ride, let’s say at a minimum there are some unflattering facts already available.
Not so, cg Apparently, according to this article, it suggests that the driver immediately reported the incident to Uber, who then shortly thereafter banned Winston from their service. What happened a year later is the Buzz feed report that the NFL notified the Uber driver that the league has opened an investigation. However, we don’t really have any detailed information yet. On one hand it’s wrong, based upon what’s public now, to assume that Jameis is guilty of bad behavior, it is equally wrong to assume that the Uber driver is guilty of bad behavior. Let the facts come out,… Read more »
Agreed and I wasn’t trying to make such admissions of assuming what happened before the facts come out. If he did it, he deserves whatever punishment he gets.
Even if someone else was in the car with Jameis, he can’t have himself around this shit, not with his history. We’ll have to wait and see how this turns out
Is Jason Licht the GM of the year….or the century? Because I’m pretty sure we were all worried that Marcus Mariota would be embroiled in a sexual assault controversy during his time in the NFL.
Thank God we have Licht, if only Dirk Koetter and Mike Smith didn’t ruin his sterling 35% winning percentage with their awful coaching maybe this transcendent roster he’s built would finally win the super bowl.
Many of us, myself included, were screaming for Mariota over Winston years ago. This is exactly the kind of thing we feared would happen if we went with Winston. And it’s not even that he would be stupid enough to actually DO something like this, but merely that his past history would open the door for stories like this. Because regardless of whether the story is true or not, everyone else associated with the team (players, front office, owners and fans alike) all lose. It’s just a matter of what the degree of it is. We should’ve drafted Mariota, and… Read more »
Stop with the Mariota comparisons. You guys act like you didn’t see last night’s 4 interception, 5 sack game against the Steelers. Geesh!
So you’d rather learn that your QB was banned from uber due to a sexual assault allegation of a driver on top of a history of a previous sexual assault allegations over watching a QB have a bad game on TNF?
Interesting choice macabee.
No Devasher,
I would prefer not to see either of those things happen, just not willing to let this allegation be the sole decision for who is the better QB for my team. You will have a more compelling case if the allegation were a conviction.
Josh McCown, Blaine Gabbert, and Mike Glennon are all good guys who have to my knowledge never been accused of any wrongdoing. Just not enough to say they would be my choice for QB. Hope you see my point.
If this was the first time I would be all for giving him the benefit of the doubt. But you’d have to be blind or dumb to think that someone with the history that Winston has should be given an “innocent until proven guilty” tag at this point.
Jameis needs to prove his innocence regarding a second assault allegation at this point, not the other way around. And until he does, you’re damn right i’d take the Glennon, McCown or someone else to QB my team.
I have never rideshared. Is it typical for Uber passengers to ride shotgun?
I am not a JW fan, I was, to say the least, disappointed when they passed on Mariota I thought Mariota was by far the better athlete, also there was more than one sexual misconduct allegations against him that was a double red flag. However I not buying all these people bring up things that happen more than a year ago if it was serious why did they wait so long to bring it up, This girl should have come forward a the time, How do you investigate this a year later one person says I did not do it… Read more »
If the article as written is correct, the Uber driver filed a claim immediately and Uber then banned Jameis Winston from their service shortly therafter. The article is murky as to specific details. What is happening now is that the NFL has just informed the Uber driver that the league has opened an investigation. We don’t know when this was first brought to the league – last week, or last year. What we don’t know would fill a library, so this is no time to be drawing conclusions about anyone involved, whether Jameis Winston or the Uber driver or Uber… Read more »
I’m sure all of you are aware that sexual assault is the top story in today’s news. I don’t know if Winston is guilty or not but I want to step forward and say that it has no place in our society and shouldn’t happen. As a result, I am going to step forward and relate my own experience (true story). Some 50 years ago as a 10th 0r 11th grader, a young woman named Sondra for whatever reason behind the school Gym, pulled up cheerleader sweater and showed me her boobs. What I remember was that she spelled her… Read more »
After re-reading my post, the AT&T Campaign was in 1979, some years after this long ago event. What happens when humor gets in the way of facts. Nevertheless, true story and point made!
Did you ask her to show you? Cuz if not, you may have sexually assaulted each other.
I was so impressed at the time I never thought of that! lol.
Seems to me Sondra was reaching out to you mac. Back then they were probably as real as they were “spectacular.”
I wish I could say that we can rest easy until the NFL completes its investigation and the truth finally gets out, one way or the other.
How many people trust the NFL to get any investigation right, given the experiences of the last couple of years?
Me neither.
Oh Boy either Winston is a Idiot or some people see him as an easy way to get some MONEY.
Innocent until proven guilty. Sounds like a “he-said, she-said” incident. uber driver’s arent exactly sterling examples of good samaritans… i might believe this if it came from a priest but this sounds like…..”Fake News!!!”. There’s no way for anyone to distinguish what happened, or if this was in fact Jameis’ hand …I always thought it was just being polite to put your hand up the uber driver’s crotch….tbh 99.99% of uber driver’s are human biohazards…. I dont think that a 23y.o. millionaire is robbing the uber cradle but there’s always outliers. She’ll probably say weinstein and Louis CK were in… Read more »
How about letting all of the facts come out before all of this inane bluster?
Like most professional athletes, Jameis can probably have his choice of attractive groupies, has a girlfriend and was still in litigation with the girl from FSU at the time. I strongly doubt that he would risk it all by coping a feel from some Uber driver.
Aren’t you all too busy EATIN’ W’s to pay attention to all of this? LOL