American sportswear company Nike announced the termination of its sponsorship contract with Brazilian football star Neymar after he refused to cooperate in an investigation regarding allegations of sexual assault made against him by a former employee years ago.
While Nike did not provide a reason for the contract termination in August, the company stated in a release on Thursday that it decided to end the deal due to Neymar's refusal to participate "in a good faith investigation into credible allegations referred by an employee about the assault he committed," according to the Associated Press.
Nike explained that it could not elaborate on the issue when the contract was terminated, as the investigation was inconclusive. The company stated, "No single body of facts emerged that would allow us to speak objectively on the matter; it would be inappropriate for Nike to make an accusatory statement without being able to provide supporting facts."
However, the Wall Street Journal published the story for the first time on Thursday, revealing that a Nike employee had informed friends and colleagues in 2016 that Neymar attempted to force her to perform oral sex in his hotel room during her time in New York, where she was assisting in coordinating events and providing support for the player and his entourage.
Nike expressed deep concern over the allegations of sexual assault, noting that the incident reportedly took place in 2016 when Neymar was playing for Barcelona. The company added that it received formal notice of the incident two years later, in 2018, and that it respected the employee’s initial desire to avoid an investigation and keep the matter confidential.
Neymar's sponsorship deal with Nike was reportedly worth £78.6 million and was set to last until 2022. However, the sportswear giant initiated an internal investigation into the allegations the following year.
The Wall Street Journal also disclosed some details of the harassment incident, indicating that the Nike employee stated that Neymar tried to force her to engage in oral sex in his hotel room during a promotional event in New York in 2016, adding that "after removing his underwear, he attempted to prevent her from leaving the room before pursuing her in the hallway."
The Daily Mail reported that Neymar denied the allegations against him, with his spokesperson stating, "Neymar Junior will vigorously defend himself against these baseless allegations if any claims are made, which has not happened so far." The spokesperson also noted that Neymar and Nike ended their 16-year association for business reasons.
Nike hired independent lawyers to interview witnesses and reportedly decided to stop featuring Neymar in their marketing campaigns amid the investigation. While confirming that the investigation was "inconclusive," Nike parted ways with Neymar after he "declined to cooperate in a good faith investigation into credible allegations of misconduct by a staff member."
In a statement, Nike expressed, "Nike was deeply troubled by the sexual assault allegations made by one of our employees against Neymar Junior." They added, "From the beginning, we took the employee's allegations and experience very seriously," indicating that "when the employee first reported her allegations to Nike officials in 2018, she did so only with guarantees of confidentiality."
While Nike was ready to investigate at that time, the company respected the employee's initial wish to keep the matter confidential and avoid an investigation. The statement continued, "As the employer, we bear the responsibility of respecting her privacy, and we did not believe it was appropriate to share this information with law enforcement or any third party without the employee's consent."
The employee expressed a desire to pursue the matter in 2019, and "we acted promptly," Nike stated, adding that they tasked an independent investigation and retained a separate legal advisor for the employee at the company's expense.
The company noted that the investigation was inconclusive, stating that "no single body of facts emerged that would have allowed us to speak objectively on this matter." They emphasized that it was inappropriate for Nike to issue an accusatory statement without being able to provide supporting facts but preferred to terminate their relationship with the player because he refused to cooperate in a good faith investigation into credible allegations of misconduct.
Nike concluded, "We continue to respect the employee's confidentiality and also acknowledge that this has been a long and difficult experience for her."
### Not the First Allegation
It is noteworthy that after parting ways with Nike, Neymar signed the largest individual sponsorship deal in sports history with Puma, reportedly worth an astonishing £23 million.
This is not the only sexual assault allegation against Neymar; model Najila Trindade claimed that the football star raped her in a hotel room in Paris, but prosecutors dropped the case due to a lack of evidence. Neymar stated that he paid for her trip to France and that they engaged in consensual sex before Trindade returned to Brazil, where she went to the police to accuse him of assault.
Neymar denied these allegations and police in São Paulo, Brazil accused Trindade of fraud, extortion, and slander in September 2019.
