Warren Moon: All I did was sleep in same bed with blackmailing accuser

The female assistant who accused Warren Moon of sexual harassment demanded $3 million to keep the allegations from “going public,” the Hall of Fame quarterback claimed Thursday.

Moon, during an interview with USA Today, admitted that he slept in the same bed as his former assistant for his sports marketing firm, Wendy Haskell, but denied the majority of claims in the civil lawsuit filed earlier this month in California. Moon, 61, also claims he received a letter by email prior to the lawsuit’s filing demanding money on behalf of Haskell on Nov. 18.

“We got a demand letter that says they want $3 million and that all these different accusations that she made up, ‘We’re going public with this if you don’t pay us $3 million,’” Moon told USA Today Sports. “This was sent on my birthday, so I know this was personal.”

The letter, according to Moon, demanded the money by Dec. 5, one day after Haskell’s lawsuit was filed in Orange County. Haskell alleged that Moon, who is divorced, required her to sleep in the same bed as he during business trips and to wear thong underwear.

The lawsuit also accused Moon of grabbing Haskell’s crotch during a business trip to Seattle, as well as drugging her drink during a separate jaunt in Mexico in October. Moon denied those accusations, as well as the claim that Haskell got reassigned after working as his personal assistant for just more than three months after complaining about the alleged sexual misconduct.

Moon did not dispute sleeping in the same bed as Haskell, saying that they occasionally did so “months and months” before she was hired to work for his firm, Sports 1 Marketing.

“We were both in the same place, relationship-wise, in our lives,” Moon said. “We weren’t looking for a committed relationship. We were both hanging out.”

Moon claimed to have previously shared the same bed with “plenty of female friends” without things turning sexual.

“And it was the same thing with her,” Moon said. “It never went beyond that in any way, shape, form or fashion, and she doesn’t even allege that, any sex or anything like that. Sex was never a part of this.”

Moon, however, stopped short of acknowledging any issues with the arrangement, claiming he did nothing “inappropriate” toward Haskell, who acted on her own free will, he said.

“It wasn’t something she was ordered to do,” Moon said. “But again, there was nothing I was doing that was inappropriate, nothing that she wasn’t comfortable with the whole time she was with me before, or after she was working with me.”

Moon said he thought his relationship with Haskell, whom he met years ago at a Pro Bowl event in Hawaii, was “close enough” that she would’ve told him had she been uncomfortable.

Moon, a nine-time Pro Bowl participant who retired in 2000 before being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006, was granted an indefinite leave of absence from his role as color commentator on the Seattle Seahawks radio network. He claimed to have evidence that will prove he did nothing wrong toward Haskell.

“If I was such a bad person, making her do all these things, why come work for me?” Moon said. “Why am I going to change anything about the way I act because you’re working for me? The only difference is that you’re getting a paycheck, and you’re having to perform for me as an employee. Nothing else has changed. That’s the part I don’t understand.”

Moon continued: “Looking back in hindsight, ‘Never hire somebody that you have a relationship with’ is a smart thing not to do. As far as harassment and the other things I’m accused of, there’s no truth to any of it.”

Haskell’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment regarding Moon’s claim of a $3 million demand, according to USA Today.