Washington Nationals broadcaster FP Santangelo has been accused of sexual misconduct and the team is holding him off broadcasts indefinitely. The Nationals notified his employer, Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, of the allegations and revoked its approval of Santangelo doing team games, as an investigation is conducted.
The club released a statement surrounding their decision.
“Late last week, we were made aware of allegations of conduct by F.P. Santangelo that are inconsistent with our values as an organization. We alerted MASN and revoked our approval of him as a member of our broadcast team. MASN assured us that they would investigate these allegations thoroughly. After MASN notified us that their investigation was complete and that F.P. should be reinstated, additional posts appeared. Once again, we notified MASN and revoked our approval of F.P. as a member of our broadcast team indefinitely. Moving forward, we will refer all questions regarding this investigation to F.P.’s employer, MASN.”
Santangelo was pulled from Saturday’s game between the Nationals and New York Yankees. It was his fourth absence in the last eight Nationals’ games. He was also pulled from an MLB Network broadcast of the Nationals’ game against Atlanta Braves on Thursday.
Santangelo’s on and off absences were unexplained initially as both the team and MASN were silent about the situation. The Nationals’ statement on Saturday came only after a report by The Athletic of the accusations against Santangelo.
According to Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic, a 31-year old woman alleges Santangelo made unwanted sexual advances towards her several years ago before sexually assaulting her. The woman shared her troubling experience on Instagram.
Santangelo denied the allegations in a text statement to the Athletic.
“What I have read in your recently published article from an anonymous individual about me is untrue and did not happen,” Santangelo said. “This is not representative of who I am as a man or a professional. I am confident that my name and reputation will be fully cleared.”
Santangelo joined MASN, who is majority owned by the Baltimore Orioles, in 2011. He along with play-by-play announcer Bob Carpenter have become the voice of the Washington Nationals.
MASN has referred the allegations to the directly to Major League Baseball’s Department of Investigations.
