The NBA and the Sacramento Kings had released a joint investigation of newly hired head instruct Luke Walton after a former sports reporter filed a civil match accusing Walton of sexual assault. The relationship goes back to a 2014 incident when Walton became an assistant educator for the Golden State Warriors. As we watch for more records to be known in what is searching like a conventional “he stated, she said” case, both sides have come out firing, with Walton’s protection group using standard methods of publicly discrediting the accuser even as simultaneously imploring the media not to try this case in public.
In an announcement Tuesday morning, Mark Baute, Walton’s attorney, called the accuser “an opportunist, no longer a sufferer” and vowed to “show this in a court docket”. Baute doubled in this approach after the woman held a press conference to eliminate the accusations. “Yesterday’s press convention was a poorly staged try to paint the accuser as a feasible spokesperson for a vital movement,” Baute stated in a declaration on Wednesday. “Her attorneys want to create a public circus to distract from their complete lack of proof to help their outrageous claims.”
Labeling accusers as “opportunists” is not new, mainly. At the same time, the people they’re accusing are wealthy and famous, making it possible to sell the narrative that the accuser is only out for cash and headlines. This unique instance, however, functions as a brand new twist on an antique tactic – Baute is closely implying that the accuser is seeking to capitalize on the groundswell of aid for sexual assault victims to come out of the #MeToo movement, which has stimulated masses of males and females to go forth as survivors publicly, frequently years after their attacks occurred.
