Family member says GM's wife was pressured to apologize by Redskins, report says

There are new details emerging in the social media scandal involving the Washington Redskins. A family member is reportedly coming forward saying that Redskins general manager Scot McCloughan's wife, Jessica, was forced to apologize about accusatory tweets she sent out.

This all started when McCloughan sent tweets to an ESPN reporter accusing her of performing sexual favors in exchange for inside information about the team.

The Redskins initially said the tweets were fake, then backtracked and released a statement from Jessica McCloughan apologizing.

This latest assertion comes less than 24 hours after Jessica McCloughan released a statement apologizing for her disparaging remarks about reporter Dianna Russini.

"I spoke with Shannon Rutherford on Wednesday evening," said Alexis Tereszcuk, entertainment editor for Los Angeles-based RadarOnline.com. "I reached her on the phone and asked her if she could talk about her sister-in-law's situation. She was a little reluctant to speak, but she did say that she knew about it. It had been something that the family had discussed for the last couple of weeks. And in fact, I asked if she thought that the statement her sister had made had been something she had been pressured to make by the NFL team and she said yes."

Tereszcuk said she made the call Wednesday night just moments after the Redskins released an apology from McCloughan.

"I spoke with Jessica McCloughan's sister-in-law who told me that they were not surprised when the news broke about Jessica's husband and the reporter," said Tereszcuk. "That they had actually heard about his side chick."

Tereszcuk said she also spoke with McCloughan's father.

"I spoke with Jessica's father, Don, this morning and he told me that he was just visiting Jessica and Scott a few weeks ago," Tereszcuk told FOX 5. "He didn't see any trouble in their marriage whatsoever. And he also told me that he spoke with Jessica's mother who said that Jessica said the whole thing was really blown out of proportion. She really just didn't want it to get any more attention."

But it may be too late. BlackSportsOnline editor-in-chief and founder Robert Littal, who first published the controversial tweets,said, "The Redskins reputation has taken another hit with fans, media and the general population."

In response to the accusation that Jessica McCloughan was forced to apologize, Redskins' vice president of communications Tony Wyllie said, "Nothing more needs to be said."

Russini has not directly responded to the scandal, though she did retweet a tweet from an ESPN colleague that expressed disappointment that the McCloughan's tweets reinforces a trashy stereotype about female sports journalists.