Former NFL columnist Jim Trotter files discrimination lawsuit against league, accusing Cowboys’ Jerry Jones and Bills’ Terry Pegula of racist statements: ‘If the Black players don’t like it here, they should go back to Africa’

Former NFL.com columnist Jim Trotter has filed his anticipated discrimination lawsuit against the league, which includes several major allegations against team owners such as Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys and Terry Pegula of the Buffalo Bills.

In the bombshell lawsuit filed Tuesday in a federal court in New York, Trotter recalled a conversation with Jones about the perceived lack of minorities in the NFL’s front offices.

“If blacks have a certain opinion about that, they should buy their own team and hire whoever they want to hire,” Jones is accused of telling Trotter.

Trotter also claims that Pegula suggested that African-American players should “go back to Africa and see how bad it is” if they are unhappy with their treatment.

The lawsuit accuses the NFL of letting Trotter’s contract expire in retaliation for publicly questioning league commissioner Roger Goodell about the league’s alleged lack of hiring of minorities.

Both Jerry Jones and Terry Pegula are accused of making racist statements in the filing

Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula (left) and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (right)

The Bills released a statement from Pegula on Tuesday denying he ever said the following: “The statement attributed to me in Mr. Trotter’s complaint is categorically false. I am shocked that anyone would associate me with such an accusation. Racism has no place in our society and I personally find it disgusting that my name is associated with the complaint.’

The Cowboys did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.

In both cases, Trotter claims he raised the issue with the league, “but no corrective action was taken.”

The NFL responded to the lawsuit in a statement Tuesday, claiming Trotter’s contract was allowed to expire because the league website could no longer afford to retain him.

“We share Jim Trotter’s passion for quality journalism created in and supported by a diverse and inclusive environment,” said the statement from league spokesman Brian McCarthy. “We take his concerns seriously, but strongly dispute his specific allegations, especially those against his dedicated colleagues at NFL Media.

‘Mr. Trotter’s departure from NFL Media was one of many difficult decisions – similar to those recently made by many other media organizations – to cope with a challenging economy and changing media environment. Jim was one of many employees unfortunately affected by these business decisions.”

Goodell accused Trotter of misleading information during one exchange

Rumors of Trotter’s impending lawsuit against the NFL surfaced in March, when he was let go by NFL media after a brief conversation with commissioner Roger Goodell during a Super Bowl press conference a month earlier.

Trotter, who is African-American, confronted Goodell about hiring minorities — a topic he also raised with the commissioner ahead of the 2022 Super Bowl LVI.

“You and other league officials have said the league’s commitment to diversity and equity inclusion extends beyond the sidelines and front offices and is applied to all aspects of the company,” Trotter said at Goodell’s press conference in February.

“I worked at NFL Media for five years and in those five years we have never had a Black person in senior management in our newsroom,” Trotter continued. “That’s a problem because we cover a league where, according to league data, the player population is 60 to 70 percent black, meaning there is no one who looks like these players at the table when decisions are made about how they are covered. .

“More concerning is that we haven’t had a full-time black employee on the news desk in over a year, which again is a problem because we cover a league whose player population is 60 to 70 percent black.

“I asked you about these things last year and your response was that the league had fallen short and that you were going to review all your policies and practices to improve this, and yet a year later nothing has changed.”

Terry Pegula has denied making the racist statement to ex-NFL columnist Jim Trotter

Goodell emphasized to Trotter that he is “not in charge of the newsroom,” but tried to answer the question anyway.

“As you point out, it’s the same question you asked last year,” Goodell said. “We’ve gone back and looked at everything we’ve done in the competition and we’re looking at everything from suppliers we work with, to partners we work with, to ownership where we’ve seen significant changes in diversity just this year.”

Goodell didn’t provide many details.

“I don’t know specifically about our media activities, and I will check with our people again, but I am confident that we have made significant progress in the competition,” he said. “I can’t answer this specific question (and) some of the data you provided there may be accurate, or it may not be accurate. Last year I was told that some of it wasn’t so. We will get back to you about this. We want to make progress across the board, including in the media space.”