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Culver-City Based NFL Network Suspends Rams Legend Marshall Faulk Over Sex Harassment Allegations

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk and three other retired players and current television analysts have been suspended over allegations of sexual harassment by a former wardrobe stylist for the Culver City-based NFL Network.

Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that Faulk, Heath Evans, Ike Taylor and Donovan McNabb are among several people named in an Oct. 6 lawsuit brought in Los Angeles County Superior Court against NFL Enterprises by Jami Cantor, a former wardrobe stylist at the NFL Network.

An amended version of the suit was filed Monday detailing alleged specific acts of harassment by several individuals who aren't named as defendants. It alleges sexual harassment, age discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and defamation. Cantor seeks unspecified damages.

"Marshall Faulk, Ike Taylor, and Heath Evans have been suspended from their duties at NFL Network pending an investigation into these allegations," said an NFL Network statement.

McNabb was also suspended by ESPN, where he now works.

Faulk would ask Cantor "deeply personal and invasive questions" about her sex life and fondled her breasts and groped her behind, the suit says.

Taylor sent Cantor "sexually inappropriate" pictures of himself and a video of him masturbating in the shower, according to the filing.  Cantor also claims that McNabb, a longtime quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, sent her inappropriate text messages while he was an analyst for the NFL Network, Bloomberg said.

Also suspended from his job was Eric Weinberger, a former executive producer at NFL Network who's now president of sports commentator Bill Simmons' media group, The Ringer.

Cantor said Weinberger sent "several nude pictures of himself and sexually explicit texts" and told her she was "put on Earth to pleasure me." He also pressed his crotch against Cantor's shoulder and asked her to touch it, according to her complaint.

Cantor alleges she was subjected to sexual harassment by NFL employees throughout her employment.

"They would touch her butt, breasts, point to their private parts in front of her," and also made inappropriate comments to Cantor, including, "I can't handle your (posterior), it is so luscious," the suit alleges.

"Nothing was done in response to plaintiff's complaints," the suit alleges. "Instead, NFL made it more difficult for plaintiff to do her job by increasing her work load and cutting her hours."

Cantor says she was hired in 2006 and worked at the NFL's Culver City studio. Part of her job duties involved building "a wardrobe closet so the talent would have clothes to wear at the NFL shows," according to her court papers.

The suit also alleges the network failed to reimburse her for money she spent buying clothing for individuals she was assigned to dress.

Cantor used her own credit card to buy clothes for the NFL employees but was not fully reimbursed, according to the suit, which also alleges she was required to work overtime without pay and was not given meal and rest breaks.

Cantor was fired in October 2016 after falsely being accused of stealing clothing from one of the employees, even though a viewing of an internal video would have shown she took nothing, the suit states.

She was 51 years old when she was fired and her replacement is 30, according to the lawsuit.

Faulk, a San Diego State University star, played 12 seasons in the NFL from 1994 to 2005, winning one Super Bowl with the then St. Louis Rams. He is a seven-time Pro Bowl selection and six-time All-Pro.

(©2017 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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