Our Work: USA Gymnastics Litigation
In the fall of 2018, lawyers representing six former elite gymnasts, who were victims of predator Larry Nassar, were preparing to file lawsuits against Nassar, USA Gymnastics (USAG), and other entities who allowed or failed to prevent the abuse. Since September 2016, hundreds of women had come forward at different times to publicly discuss the grooming, manipulation, and sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of Nassar. These stories had generated thousands of print articles, TV interviews on major outlets and later repackaged and replayed across social media platforms across the country and world.
Recognizing that the media never held its attention to one story for too long -- and the sheer number of victims could make it difficult for the media to latch on to one (or even a handful) of cases -- we were retained to ensure that these victims had an opportunity to tell their story. To that end, we designed an aggressive media strategy that would allow survivors to share their stories while simultaneously highlighting civil suits against Nassar, USAG and other enablers. An important aspect of this strategy required considering the sensitive nature of the topic; therefore, we tailored a media strategy to each survivor depending on their personal level of comfort in talking to media and going public with their story.
The campaign started with providing an exclusive to ABC News followed by a press conference in Los Angeles, highlighting the stories of two survivors, and garnering national media attention. Subsequent rollouts focused more on local media, given the profile of the gymnasts and their personal preference regarding media attention. Lastly, we arranged an interview for one of the attorneys on CNN to highlight the importance of the lawsuit and survivors’ stories. At each step, we ensured the gymnasts and their attorneys were prepared for the difficult questions they were likely to be asked and provided the support necessary for an effective and sensitive media strategy.