Suit vs. NFL alleges discrimination
A former NFL Media journalist is accusing the league of refusing to address what he calls long-standing institutional discrimination and said his contract was not renewed because he repeatedly voiced concerns regarding equity and racial injustice.
In making his allegations in a discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in New York City, Jim Trotter also cited Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Bills owner Terry Pegula as making racially insensitive comments. Trotter said the concerns he raised with league executives, including NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, regarding those comments and the lack of diversity among NFL Media employees fell on deaf ears.
Trotter is Black and now works for The Athletic after previously being a reporter for the NFL Network, before his contract was not renewed in March.
Pegula said in a statement that the allegation against him is false. “I am horrified anyone would connect me to an allegation of this kind,” he said. “Racism has no place in our society and I am ... disgusted that my name is associated with this complaint.”
Jones issued a statement: “Diversity and inclusion are extremely important to me personally and to the NFL. The representation made by Jim Trotter of a conversation that occurred over three years ago with myself and our VP of Player Personnel Will McClay is simply not accurate.”
Trotter is seeking to have a court-ordered monitor put in place to investigate and review the NFL’s policies and implement necessary changes on its hiring, retention and advancement of Black employees throughout its organization.
Trotter implicated Jones by referring to a conversation he had with the Cowboys owner in 2020 on the issue of the lack of Black professionals in decision-making positions across the NFL. He said, Jones’ response was: “If Blacks feel some kind of way, they should buy their own team and hire who they want to hire.”
Trotter then cited a comment Pegula allegedly made during a dinner with reporters on the issue of player protests against racial injustice. Though Trotter wasn’t present, he said the comments were raised by one of his colleagues.
The AP reported that the NFL conducted an investigation into Pegula’s alleged comments by interviewing all those present at the dinner, and it could not find anyone else recalling the comments being made.
Former Buccaneers and Bills WR Mike Williams died, his agent said. He was 36. Williams had been hospitalized in intensive care after an accident at a construction site in Florida that left him partially paralyzed.
College football: Roy Kidd, who coached Eastern Kentucky to two NCAA Division I-AA championships in a Hall of Fame career, died. He was 91. Kidd won 314 games with the Colonels from 1964 to 2002 and won I-AA titles in 1979 and 1982.
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