Kings dancers' misstep
Salacious photos crop up online, create PR problem
By Bobby Caina Calvan and Melody Gutierrez - bcalvan at sacbee.com
Last Updated 6:01 am PST Friday, February 15, 2008
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A1
http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/714546.html
Caught with their skirts down. Off the job and out of uniform. Make
the jokes - bloggers are - but the Sacramento Kings aren't laughing
and are mostly mum on a public relations flap over some salacious
photos posted online of its Royal Court dancers.
In one photo, four women are seen bending over - their backsides
showing and leaving little to the imagination. Another shows two women
posing suggestively as if about to kiss.
At the least, the incident poses the question: What were they
thinking?
The photos appear to be old - perhaps dating back at least two years -
but the perils of digital footprints provide a cautionary tale that
what happens in Las Vegas - or in this case, the locker room or
private quarters - doesn't always stay there.
"With the advent of the Internet, YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, these
things take on a life of their own," said Douglas Elmets, president of
Elmets Communications, a public relations firm in Sacramento.
The story could have legs, he said, if not dealt with head-on and
immediately. "They have to come clean," Elmets said.
"Young girls look up to them and I presume old men lust after them,"
Elmets said of the dance squad known as the Royal Court.
The photos are the latest in a string of embarrassments for the Kings.
Last year, player Ron Artest had a run-in with the law because of
domestic violence, and shortly after being hired, former coach Eric
Musselman was arrested for drunken driving.
"The photos of Sacramento Kings Dance Team members circulating on the
Internet were published without the knowledge or permission of the
Dance Team members or the Sacramento Kings, and they do not adhere to
the principles and values of the Sacramento Kings organization," the
Kings said in a statement to The Bee.
The photos show the Kings dancers partying. Some of the women pictured
are no longer on the dance team.
The photos found their way onto the Internet when they were uploaded
to a picture-sharing Web site - and posted for all the World Wide Web
to see.
Access was soon restricted, however, after a blogger downloaded the
images and began circulating the photos online to sites such as
www.withleather.com.
Soon, other bloggers joined in, and online gawking ensued.
There was talk of shame and disciplinary action. Others offered racy
commentary.
"As far as the dancers go, why is anyone surprised?" said one post on
the Sactown Royalty blog. "Did people think they wore floor length
dresses and went to the 6:00 AM mass on Sunday?"
In an e-mail to Bee sports writer Sam Amick, Mitch Germann, the Kings'
vice president of business communications, declined to say if
disciplinary measures would be taken: "We handle all Team Member
personnel issues internally."
Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof also had little to say. "We obviously
don't condone that type of behavior," he told Amick. "We'll deal with
it internally."
Athletes have learned the perils of posting compromising pictures on
their MySpace and Facebook accounts, with some high school and college
coaches checking those sites to monitor their behavior.
Many of those who post risqué images do so on password-protected
sites.
At least seven of the team's dancers have accounts on MySpace - all
but one inaccessible to the public.
It's unclear when the collection of 14 photos - most of them tame and
featuring group shots - was posted online. It's also unclear how it
was discovered by bloggers.
"You should always be ready for your close-up," said Susannah Fox,
associate director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project and co-
author of a report on digital footprints on the Internet.
The spread of digital cameras makes it easy for anyone - including
strangers - to post images online, Fox said.
That could mean added pressure to be on your best behavior, she and
others say.
"When someone has a digital camera, you should ask that person what
they're going to do with it," suggested Mary Madden, a co-author of
the Pew report.
"There's a difference in what your friends might want to see," she
said, "and what your parents or grandparents might want to see."