Redskins owner Dan Snyder dropped his defamation lawsuit against the Washington City Paper, one night before the season opener — as well as before a New York Times article in which Snyder admitted he had never read the article.
At the time the lawsuit was filed, Redskins spokesman Tony Wyllie said it was because “enough’s enough.” In essence, they wanted to send a warning to others who wanted to take shots at Snyder.
In a release Saturday night, Wyllie said:
“The lawsuit was pursued as a means to correct the public record following several critical factual misstatements in the Washington City Paper article. In the course of the defendants’ recently filed pleadings and statements in this matter, the Washington City Paper and its writer have admitted that certain assertions contained in the article that are the subject of the lawsuit were, in fact, unintended by the defendants to be read literally as true. Therefore, we see nothing further to be gained at this time through continuing the lawsuit. We prefer to focus on the coming football season and the business at hand. We remain committed to assisting with responsible reportage of the Team and the many people involved in our organization, including Dan Snyder, and the principle that the truth and the facts matter in responsible journalism has been vindicated.”
According to the Associated Press, the City Paper put out its own statement, which reiterated what the paper had said from the start: the libellous things alleged were never mentioned.
