F.P. Santangelo, the former MLB outfielder and the current television analyst for Nationals games on MASN, has been accused of sexual misconduct, according to The Athletic.
The 53-year-old Santangelo has missed broadcasts four times in the last eight days. An anonymous 31-year-old woman told The Athletic that several years ago, Santangelo made unwanted sexual advances before sexually assaulting her. The woman said Santangelo ignored her repeated requests for him to stop.
In a statement to The Athletic, the Nationals said they were made aware of the allegations late last week. The woman first accused Santangelo in an anonymous Instagram post that MASN and the Nationals saw before she told The Athletic.
“We alerted MASN and revoked our approval of him as a member of our broadcast team,” the statement read. “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.”
In an additional statement, MASN said the broadcast company “refers allegations concerning broadcasters who are former Major League Baseball players directly to Major League Baseball’s Department of Investigations, as is appropriate under the circumstances.”
Santangelo joined the Nationals’ broadcast team in 2011 as a color commentator after an MLB career that spanned 665 games for the Montreal Expos, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics.
He first missed a broadcast assignment during the Miami Marlins series last weekend, but he returned Tuesday to the booth. He was scheduled to work Thursday’s Washington game against the Atlanta Braves for MLB Network on YouTube, but he was scratched from that appearance, too.
While Santangelo joined play-by-play commentator Bob Carpenter — who was on a planned vacation last week — for Friday’s series opener against the New York Yankees, Santangelo was again off the air Saturday.
In a statement to The Athletic, Santangelo texted: “What I have read in your recently published article from an anonymous individual about me is untrue and did not happen. 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.”
The woman accusing Santangelo of sexual assault is not a member of MASN, the Nationals or the Orioles — the latter of which is a majority owner of MASN. She told The Athletic she doesn’t want to issue a formal complaint and isn’t seeking compensation.
She said Santangelo sent her angry text messages and blocked her on social media after their lone in-person meeting.
“If I never saw him again, I’d be perfectly happy,” the woman told The Athletic. “But he’s well known and it is bothersome to see someone in his private life not be respectful of people. I don’t have any motives behind this other than I wanted to avoid this happening to other women.”
• Andy Kostka can be reached at akostka@washingtontimes.com.
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