Hue Jackson Foundation executive stands by pay-for-tanking claims, which Browns call ‘categorically false’
Kimberly Diemert, executive director of the Hue Jackson Foundation, confirmed late Wednesday morning she had posted a series of tweets alleging the Browns paid former coach Hue Jackson and three team executives bonus money to tank during the 2016 and 2017 NFL seasons.
The franchise went 1-31 over the course of those two seasons.
Diemert alleged former head of football operations Sashi Brown, chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta and general manager Andrew Berry received bonus money. Diemert also accused the league and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Twitter of knowing about the alleged payments and covering them up. She tweeted she had proof.
“If anybody wants to verify whether or not those are my statements, they are absolutely my statements,” Diemert told the Beacon Journal by phone. “I stand behind them. They are verifiable. They are indisputable. If the Cleveland Browns organization or the NFL want to dispute them, tell them bring it on. It’s there.”
In a statement, a Browns spokesperson denied the allegations Wednesday afternoon.
“The recent comments by Hue Jackson and his representatives relating to his tenure as our head coach are completely fabricated,” the spokesperson said. “Any accusation that any member of our organization was incentivized to deliberately lose games is categorically false.”
The NFL did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Tweets along the same lines as Diemert’s were posted Tuesday night on what appears to be Jackson’s Twitter account.
The account — @huejack10 — is not verified on Twitter, but Grambling State University, which hired Jackson as its head football coach in December, lists the same account on its official athletics website as Jackson’s and links to it. The school’s verified athletics Twitter account has used @huejack10 in many of its social media posts. Diemert, who said the unverified Twitter account @KimberlyDiemer1 is hers, also tagged @huejack10 in many of her recent tweets.
former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores filing a lawsuit Tuesday against the NFL, Dolphins, New York Giants and Denver Broncos, alleging racial discrimination by the league’s franchises in hiring practices.
The lawsuit also claims Dolphins owner Stephen Ross told Flores during the 2019 season he would pay him $100,000 for each game lost that year. When Miami started to win games, Flores was told by Dolphins general manager Chris Grier that Ross was mad the success was “compromising [the team’s] draft position,” the lawsuit reads.
A tweet by CBSSports.com writer Patrik Walker about the allegation of offering payments to Flores to tank elicited a response from the @huejack10 account.
“Well [Browns owner] Jimmy Haslam, was happy while we kept losing,” the account tweeted.
A fan responded by tweeting, “Jimmy Haslam wasn’t offering … 100k per loss or Hue would be on the Forbes list.”
The @huejack10 account replied, “Trust me it was a good number!”
Flores’ lawsuit seeks class-action status.
In Diemert’s series of tweets, she wrote, “We have records that will help [Flores’] case” and “Hue Jackson will [come forward] and he will bring all the records with him,” but she declined by phone to comment on whether Jackson would join Flores’ lawsuit.
Since 2018, Diemert has been the executive director of Jackson’s foundation, which combats human trafficking.
“I stand behind everything I post,” Diemert said. “I have 100% accountability, accuracy and transparency. Facts are facts, and if the Browns want to dispute them, tell them show me their proof that what I have put out there is fraudulent.”
Flores went 24-25 (5-11 in 2019, 10-6 in 2020 and 9-8 in 2021) in three seasons as the head coach of the Dolphins. Jackson went 3-36-1 (1-15, 0-16 and 2-5-1) in two and a half seasons at the helm of the Browns, who fired Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley on Oct. 29, 2018.
a radio interview this past March, Jackson ripped Browns ownership. Jackson said he signed a contract extension midway through the 2017 season, his second year on the job, and ownership and an executive team led by Brown and DePodesta had lied to him about its plans for a rebuild.