AT&T Ends USA Gymnastics Sponsorship In More Larry Nassar Fallout

INDIANAPOLIS, IN — Another major sponsor has ended its support for beleaguered USA Gymnastics, under fire on multiple fronts for not doing enough to stop former team doctor and serial molester Larry Nassar from sexually abusing young gymnasts with his bare hands under the guise of medical treatment. AT&T put Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics' governing body on notice said Tuesday, saying it won't financially support the organization until it can prove athletes are safe.

“We notified USA Gymnastics today that we are suspending our sponsorship of the organization until it is rebuilt and we know that the athletes are in a safe environment,” the telecommunications company said in a statement. “The terrible abuse suffered by these young women is unconscionable. We remain committed to helping these young athletes pursue their dreams and hope to find other ways to do so. We stand ready to step back in when USAG has fully addressed these tragic events.”

Procter & Gamble, Hershey’s and Under Armour previously defected as sponsors of the organization, which Olympic gymnastics champions like Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and said failed to protect gymnasts. All three testified Nassar’s seven-day sentencing hearing in Michigan, an extraordinary event where a parade of more than 150 girls and women have confronted the disgraced doctor about their molestation at his hands.

Kellogg’s also said that it didn’t plan to renew its sponsorship of USA Gymnastics, which expired at the end of 2016. In an emailed statement to Patch last year, Kellogg’s spokeswoman Kris Charles said the company is hopeful the steps USA Gymnastics is taking will create a safer environment for gymnasts and would “reassess the USAG for the 2020 Summer Games.”

The scandal blew open when Rachael Denhollander publicly accused Nassar of molesting her during medical examinations. An explosive Indianapolis Star report indicted USA Gymnastics as much as Nassar, who pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in November, was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison Wednesday by Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina. Nassar already is serving 60 years in prison on federal pornography charges, and will be sentenced Jan. 31 on three more state charges of criminal sexual conduct.

The governing body of the sport has been on de facto trial in the Nassar sentencing. Three of USA Gymnastics’ top executives stepped down this week, a move the organization’s president and CEO, Kerry Perry, said would allow it to “move forward in implementing change.”

Raisman offered a scorching critique of USA Gymnastics’ governing body in her testimony in Nassar’s sentencing hearing.

“To believe in the future of gymnastics is to believe in change. But how are we to believe in change when these organizations aren’t even willing to acknowledge the problem?” Raisman said. “It’s easy to put out statements talking about how athlete care is the highest priority. But they’ve been saying that for years, and all the while, this nightmare was happening.”

2008 Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson East said in an emotionally raw video released Monday that as much as she loves the sport, if she had a daughter, she “wouldn’t put her in it” because of the culture of abuse. She said USA Gymnastics has failed athletes for years.

"If you want to gain the trust of the world — if you want to gain the trust from coaches and from parents and make little girls feel comfortable again — you need to change the system completely,” Johnson said. “I think USA Gymnastics for a very, very long time has focused on nothing but winning gold medals, that they have overlooked the simple and most important fact that the people they are dealing with are minors and are children and do not have the capabilities to stand up for themselves or to speak for themselves.

“And when these little girls have devoted their entire lives to one dream, and they feel scared to voice something that has gone wrong because they feel that that dream could be compromised, is disgusting. I think, as it pertains to USA Gymnastics, every single procedure, rule, guideline, rulebook you've ever made needs to be thrown out the window and redone.”

USA Gymnastics has already implemented several changes. They include hiring last summer of a longtime longtime children's rights advocate and a former prosecutor to help address issues that have plagued the organization amid a sexual abuse scandal that has shaken its marquee programs.

Toby Stark, who spent the last seven years as executive director of the children's advocacy group Chaucie's Place, will serve as the director of safe sport for USA Gymnastics. Stark will oversee all aspects of USA Gymnastics safe sport policies, guidelines, educational programs, reporting and adjudication services.

Mark Busby, who focused on child abuse and sex crime cases while with the Marion County prosecutor's office, will provide in-house legal counsel.

Both hirings are in response to recommendations made by former federal prosecutor Deborah Daniels, who in an independent report released last month called on USA Gymnastics to make a complete culture change.

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Olympian Shawn Johnson Says USA Gymnastics Fails Young Athletes
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Photo: In this April 15, 2004 file photo Jamie Dantzscher performs her floor routine during preliminaries at the NCAA women's gymnastics championships in Los Angeles. Dantzscher, a 2000 Olympian, is one of dozens of women and girls who filed civil lawsuits against Larry Nassar a former Michigan State University doctor who specialized in treating elite U.S. gymnasts. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File)