"Rah-Rah-Raw: Raiderette Nude-Photo Scandal"

It would seem impossible to offend the Oakland Raiders' sense of decorum, but cheerleader Danielle Gamba managed to pull it off. The team fired Gamba when the organization learned that the 20-year-old had posed for these (and other) nude photos for Mystique-Magazine.com.

Interview by Dan Kapelovitz

KAPELOVITZ: Tell us your story from the beginning.

GAMBA: I entered the Model Safari Competition [sponsored by Mystique] last year. I never thought in a million years that I would win. It was a pretty lengthy process of elimination. It would go month by month as they narrowed it down to a group of girls. During that time, I had tried out for the Raiderettes, and I made it. It was probably about two months into the season that I found out that I won the contract from Mystique. I ended up posing for them, and the Raiders found out about it. They didn't appreciate the type of modeling that I was doing and dismissed me about two weeks ago.

KAPELOVITZ: How did the Raiders learn that the pictures were on the Internet?

GAMBA: Honestly, I still don't know to this day.

KAPELOVITZ: Is there any clause in the Raiderette contract that forbids you from posing nude?

GAMBA: There is a morality clause. We can't do anything to embarrass or offend the other girls, and it does include partially nude or nude [photos].

KAPELOVITZ: Have other Raiderettes posed nude before?

GAMBA: Yes. Based on my research so far, I've found one Raiderette named Jane Lubeck. I didn't cheer with her, but she's actually a friend of a friend, who told me that she had posed for [the September 1974] Playboy. She did quite a big spread for them and faced no repercussions or anything.

KAPELOVITZ: Why do you think you've been singled out?

GAMBA: I don't know. Like I said, the contract's black and white, but there are other things, like Jane Lubeck's situation, that caught me by surprise. Some of the girls have told me that there were strippers on the squad in previous years who were just asked not to come back once the team found out. They weren't dismissed or fired.

KAPELOVITZ: Are you going to sue to get your job back?

GAMBA: No. It's not about legal justice; it's just a personal thing, in all fairness.

KAPELOVITZ: The Raiderettes put out their own calendar in which the girls pose provocatively in skimpy outfits. Aren't the Raiders being hypocritical?

GAMBA: I don't want to put any negative light [on it]. Like I said, it's surprising, because we can walk around in G-strings in the public out on the beach, wearing close to nothing, but then we can't take pictures without removing that string.

KAPELOVITZ: Are you lobbying to get back on the squad?

GAMBA: There's actually a petition going [around] right now—www.Geocities.com/BringBackDanielleGamba—which is really sweet. I would love to come back if they would have me, but right now it doesn't look too optimistic.

KAPELOVITZ: Perhaps with the petition drive and all of this publicity, the Raiders will hire you back.

GAMBA: Yeah, my fingers are crossed. I hope I'm not upsetting them by doing these interviews.

KAPELOVITZ: Is it fun to be a Raiderette?

GAMBA: It's fabulous. I worked so hard to become a Raiderette. All the girls are great. There were so many different experiences that I had, not just cheering at the games. I got to do a Fourth of July parade, and we just welcomed home troops from Iraq at the [Travis] Air Force base. I think that was my favorite.

KAPELOVITZ: How long were you a Raiderette?

GAMBA: From May; so only about three months.

KAPELOVITZ: Are you from the Bay Area?

GAMBA: Yes. I'm a native.

KAPELOVITZ: Do the Raiderettes pay well?

GAMBA: No. You don't do it for the money, definitely. It was costing me more money just to do the commute and drive out to Oakland three or four times a week. That's okay. I love to dance, and that's what it was all about. So it was worth it, no matter how much I got paid or [was] in debt because of it.

KAPELOVITZ: Did you get to keep your uniform?

GAMBA: No. They made me return it. I had to return it yesterday. I kept it until the very last day that I possibly could.

KAPELOVITZ: Do the Raiders allow their cheerleaders to date the players?

GAMBA: The Raiders are the only organization in the NFL that does allow the cheerleaders to date [players]. All of the other ones have rules against it.

KAPELOVITZ: That's odd that they're the most lenient in that regard, yet they fired you.

GAMBA: Exactly.

KAPELOVITZ: Have you ever dated a player?

GAMBA: No, I haven't, but it was funny. [Bill] Romanowski just got into a fight; he broke someone's eye socket at practice last week or the week before, about the same time as my dismissal. People around town were saying, "Oh, yeah, they got into a fight over that cheerleader that got kicked off." I've never even spoken to either of them; so it wasn't about that, but it was funny to hear that.

KAPELOVITZ: The funny thing is that he probably won't get fired for breaking someone's eye socket, yet you were canned for posing nude.

GAMBA: He got suspended for a day. I'm getting a lot of feedback about that—"It's nice to know that the Raiders have their morality all correct and everything." They suspend Romanowski for one day, and I get the boot for taking off my clothes.

KAPELOVITZ: What do people at school say about all of this?

GAMBA: It's funny, because we just started school last week. The teachers will be calling attendance—this happened a couple of times—and they'll say "Danielle Gamba." I'll say, "I'm here," and they'll say, "Hmmm, that name sounds really familiar, but your face doesn't look familiar. But I swear I've heard your name somewhere before." I'm like, "Oh, I don't know." I'm sure they probably just read an article. Someone came up to me and said, "Hey, I saw you on Celebrity Justice last week," and I didn't even know I was on. Little things like that.



(This article first appeared in the February 2004 issue of Hustler Magazine)



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