Unless its a specific type of massage parlor... and we all know which ones those are. They get busted every single year here and some of them get busted for openly advertising happy endings. Passing out flyers with that on them, but a professional masseuses nah they are legit. My thing is he seemed to ask them all this really odd question. Which was basically do you have issues massaging the gluts. Dude was seeking out paid ***. No way he gets out of it.
I tend to agree.
Since I know a lot of people are not going to read the whole ESPN article:
"He [Rusty Hardin] said Watson typically receives two or three massages a week, and any sexual activity with therapists who say he assaulted them was consensual."
"Nine of the 22 plaintiffs represented by attorney Tony Buzbee are
licensed massage therapists, while
the rest are either working toward massage licenses or specialize in skin treatments or other wellness therapies. Most live in the Houston area. Two are from Georgia and one each from California and Arizona. There also is a 23rd therapist, not represented by Buzbee, who was first interviewed by Sports Illustrated and has since spoken with ESPN. All of the women allege
behavior that ranges from unwanted sexual contact to groping to forced oral ***."
"On or about Monday, Nov. 2, according to a lawsuit, Watson kept a massage appointment he made through Instagram with a Houston woman who owns a bodywork and stretch therapy company. She says
he kissed her when he arrived and that she was shocked and left the office to compose herself. When she returned, she says, Watson exposed himself, and he moved during the massage in such a way that his ***** touched her hand. She says
Watson offered to pay extra if she worked on his buttocks and ***** and then left upset when she declined."
"He also, according to a lawsuit, had a massage session with a
flight attendant who was also
a massage therapy student he'd met on Instagram. They met at her mother's home in suburban Pearland, and she says
he urged her to massage him inappropriately around his groin and to "get up in there." She says she refused, and
he flipped onto his back, exposed his ***** and tried directing her to his groin. She says he later texted from the driveway: "Hope that wasn't bad."
"That evening, he appeared in the office of a
licensed aesthetician, whom he'd contacted via Instagram for a massage, according to her lawsuit. The woman says she told Watson she was not a massage therapist, but that
he insisted on booking with her anyway. She says
Watson grabbed her buttocks during the massage and moved his erect ***** onto her hand. When the woman objected, she alleges, Watson replied, "
You can sit on it." She says she cut the massage short and that
Watson said he would not pay her unless she signed a nondisclosure agreement. She says in her lawsuit that
she signed the agreement and that Watson paid her $265 for a $65 session."
"The next morning, he reached back out at 7 a.m. to the
flight attendant he'd seen the previous Friday. Despite her earlier experience, she says,
she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he acted in a similarly inappropriate way and, at one point, ejaculated on her. She says Watson asked "incessantly" for another massage in the following days but she declined, and that she felt "violated, disgusted and betrayed."
"Watson, he says,
reached out to most of the women on social media, primarily Instagram, and insisted that they be alone when he showed up. He occasionally would seek appointments with women who told him that they'd never even done massage. "Well, can you do a massage?" Watson would ask, according to Buzbee."
"In some instances, Buzbee says,
Watson asked for photos of the therapists or dictated what he wanted them to wear during the sessions. In screen grabs of a direct message exchange Buzbee provided to reporters on Tuesday, Watson appears to comment on the image of a woman wearing a sports bra and spandex shorts. "Something like this is fine," reads a direct message said to be from Watson to the woman. "It's hot here."
"Often, according to the lawsuits,
Watson would insist that no one else be around during the sessions.
Watson would frequently insist on being covered only with a towel during the massage sessions rather than draped with a sheet, as is customary, Buzbee said.
And, in some instances, he brought his own towel, which was closer in size to a "small washcloth," Buzbee said."
"
He asked some of the women to sign a nondisclosure agreement either before or after the massages, and Buzbee provided reporters a copy of that two-page agreement."
"At least once he is said to have gone to unusual lengths to book a therapist he found on Instagram. In August 2020, according to one lawsuit, Watson purchased a plane ticket for an Atlanta-based therapist and flew her to Houston.
A direct message released by Buzbee, said to be from Watson, includes the woman's itinerary, along with heart and rose emojis."
"Lauren Baxley, the other plaintiff to make her name public last week, shared a statement through Buzbee that was addressed to Watson. "With your millions of fans and followers,
with your resources and income I felt both powerless, and trapped," Baxley said. "
My work contract with my building was tied to my lease, and at the snap of your fingers I knew my good reputation, my home, and my career might be lost."
"Ashley Solis says in her lawsuit that Watson could see her crying after she abruptly cut off her massage session on March 30, 2020, and asked him to leave. She says
he replied: "I know you have a career and a reputation, and I know you would hate for someone to mess with yours, just like I don't want anyone messing with mine."
AND HERE'S SOMETHING FROM SOMEONE WHO HAS NOT NOT NOT SUED WATSON:
"But at least
one massage therapist who has not sued Watson, a woman from Houston who has asked to go by the pseudonym Mary, told ESPN she felt "shocked" when Watson exposed his naked body and became sexually aroused during a massage session in the fall of 2019.
Mary, a licensed massage therapist in her late 20s, remembered being told before the appointment that
Watson liked to use a towel instead of sheets. "I did get the biggest towel that I could find because I'm used to requiring a full sheet draping," she said.
She said she greeted Watson at the back door to her rented office space and led him up a back staircase to the massage studio. Watson, she said, had asked her to focus her massage on his lower abdomen, inner thighs and quadriceps. She said
Watson was on his back about 45 minutes into the session when he threw off the towel, exposing his naked body. Mary said she'd never experienced such a thing in more than 1,000 previous appointments.
"I was in shock," Mary said. "All I knew was the session was booked by someone who referred a lot of people to me. I trust what she says." The woman whom Mary said referred Watson has not responded to requests for comment from ESPN.
Mary said that
when Watson exposed himself, she decided to push down her confusion and shock and "continue to be professional and finish the session."
Toward the end of her session, Mary said,
Watson started clenching and thrusting, "like he was humping the air." At first, she thought she was massaging too deeply and hurting him. She said
he started thrusting even faster, and she later noticed what appeared to be bodily fluid on his stomach.
"I told him to calm down ... and he stopped," Mary said. "We ended the session about five to 10 minutes later."
She stressed that Watson never forced her to do anything or touched her inappropriately, but his actions left her shaken. "The only thing I could think of was continuing the session and
just finishing so I could get him out of my office," she said.
On her drive home, she called her older sister, who also spoke with ESPN and recalled that conversation.
"She was very distraught," the older sister said. But that distress eventually gave way to anger.
"
We're not *** workers, we're massage therapists," Mary said. "We work with cancer patients. We work with physical therapists. We're professionals, and it's just not fair for someone who honestly could have anything he wants to come and treat our profession the way that he did. So I want an apology for the community and just some respect."
Mary said that Watson reached back out to her on Instagram twice after her session with him. ESPN has reviewed those direct message exchanges, which came from Watson's verified Instagram account.
Mary said she thinks Watson had forgotten their previous encounter when he made contact with her again in November 2020.
"Hello, I got requested by a friend to see you as a massage therapist?!" a message from the account said on the morning of Nov. 26.
"
I don't mind working with you again but you have to respect my profession," Mary replied, adding, "
You made me feel uncomfortable last time you were in."
"Oh gotcha, sorry there were no intentions for anything more," came the reply.
Mary also reminded Watson of her policies in that same exchange: "
I do require draping with sheets, i know last time you requested just a towel. So long as you're cool with my policies we can 1000% get you booked," she told him.
She said
Watson never wound up booking with her again."