‘This doesn’t smell right’: Gee analyzes the strip club visit that got Seattle’s civil rights director put on leave

An investigation into Seattle Office for Civil Rights Director Derrick Wheeler-Smith found that he sexually harassed a male employee by accompanying him to a strip club during a city-sponsored trip to Alabama in 2023.

The employee told investigators he didn’t feel he could refuse because Wheeler-Smith was his boss. Wheeler-Smith said he went because the employee told him he wouldn’t go without him.

Gee Scott, co-host on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, said the story didn’t add up, and doesn’t see how a coworker could force another to attend a strip club.

“I think sexual harassment is a no-no in any type of environment, both male and female, especially when it comes to work,” Gee said. “Now let me give my opinion on this. This doesn’t smell right. This story just doesn’t smell right at all. In my 50 years of living, I have never seen someone be forced to go to a strip club. If you are a boss and you are going to the strip club with your subordinate, probably not a good idea. That’s inappropriate. But inappropriate does not mean sexual harassment.”

Wheeler-Smith has been on paid administrative leave since March, and the mayor’s office is expected to provide an update in October.

Gee said he sees a pattern with city-related complaints.

“Is it me, or is everybody angling for a damn lawsuit?” Gee said. “How often are we talking about a lawsuit when we’re talking about the city of Seattle?”

Fill-in host Angela Poe Russell agreed.

“It just feels like someone got got on a technicality,” Angela said. “I take sexual harassment seriously, and I also don’t like it when people use something that’s there to protect people from a thing when it’s abused and used to their advantage or for some kind of political reason.”

Then Angela asked Gee a question that flipped his thinking.

“If it were a woman who said she felt pressured to go, would that change it for you?” Angela asked.

“Dang it,” Gee said. “You got me. Even if I didn’t think the story smelled right, I wouldn’t admit that on the air. I think you just got me in the hypocrisy, because I’m going off of personal experience. I’ve never seen a man forced to go to a strip club. Just because I’ve never doesn’t mean it’s factual.”

Gee, Angela said the real conversation is about work culture

The strip club debate led to a broader discussion about boundaries between coworkers, and whether happy hours, work trips and after-hours socializing are worth the risk.

“Don’t drink alcohol around your coworkers,” Angela said. “If anyone’s buzzed, you may say things you normally wouldn’t say. There’s nothing good that comes from it.”

Gee said a younger version of himself would have disagreed, but not anymore.

“Happy hour should be illegal,” Gee said. “If you see the lawsuits and you’re seeing all of the complaints, then happy hour should be illegal. I think we need to rehab these discussions.”

Gee said his father gave him advice before the Me Too movement that he now considers essential.

“My father, before he passed away, he used to always tell me, ‘Hey, champ, this new job you got, you need to make me a promise. You make me a promise that you will never try to date a woman at work,'” Gee said. “I didn’t really understand that. But that was some sound advice.”

Gee closed with a warning about what happens when coworkers socialize after hours.

“When that alcohol happens, we think that what we say with our coworkers won’t make it back to work,” Gee said. “Stop fooling yourself. People love tea — both sipping the tea or handing out the tea.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.