Former reporter claims Bills owner Terry Pegula, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made racist comments about hiring, social justice protests


This morning, Pro Football Talk tweeted out the first look NFL fans have gotten at longtime NFL reporter Jim Trotter’s discrimination suit against the NFL.

Trotter’s suit, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, names the National Football League and NFL Network, Trotter’s former employer, as defendants. The complaint filed on Trotter’s behalf spans a full 53 pages, but PFT tweeted out a few of the allegations contained therein, including allegations of statements that confirm that racial equality is still a big problem in the NFL.

Remember all those “End Racism” block letters in the endzones? Take a look at what Trotter alleges owners Jerry Jones and Terry Pegula have said in his presence. Trotter’s lawsuit alleges, in part:

  1. As one such example, Terry Pegula, owner of the Buffalo Bills, stated inteference to player protests against racial injustice that, “If the Black players don’t like it here, they should go back to Africa and see how bad it is.” See infra at SIII(D).

Mr. Trotter says he raised complaints and concerns about this remark, but no action was taken.

  1. As another example, Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, responded to a question posed by Mr. Trotter regarding the dearth of Black professionals in decision making positions for NFL teams by stating, “If Blacks feel some kind of way, they should buy their own team and hire who they want to hire.” See infra at SIII©. Mr. Trotter raised complaints and concerns about this remark but no remedial action was taken.

read more: https://deadspin.com/jerry-jones-terry-pegula-nfl-racism-lawsuit-1850829902

    • @Haui@discuss.tchncs.de
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      910 months ago

      Honestly, this is nothing but rage bait to me. Every person who makes a remark like this should go to jail for a cool 20 yrs. I had an incident last year with a nonprofit I was working with where people were sharing memes of asian chefs (with text bubbles giving them the stereotypical r to l change) serving bats to unknowing western guests… I asked that this practice is stopped and got publicly humiliated for my „unprofessional demeanor“.

      I can’t tell you how furious I am about racists.

  • @Heikki@lemm.ee
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    87
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    10 months ago

    I am a firm believer that the only draft pick that would have saved the Dallas Cowboy’s was Jerry Jones by the Vietnam draft

  • @NatakuNox@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    What old billionaires from the south and made their money from exploitation, are racist?! Never would have guessed

      • @Historical_General@lemmy.world
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        1710 months ago

        That’s most of the establishment. Even new money people are mostly crooks. And then you get people like Rowling who make money honestly and join the far right cult of the wealthy.

        • @Haui@discuss.tchncs.de
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          1010 months ago

          Definitely a lot of them. Our world has a problem with morality. It’s not ok to cross a red light but it is okay to have made millions working for the nazis somehow (for example). I don’t care about the jk rowlings of this world. Being a dumbfuck is not morally bankrupt but using slave labor definitely is and even has been when it was legal.

  • @ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    This is the same organization that has spent millions of dollars to downplay the effects of multiple concussions on several players across the league.

    People receiving regular brain damage was swept under the rug for the sake of what is essentially modern day blood sports.

  • @postmateDumbass@lemmy.world
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    4310 months ago

    Now ask them what they think life in Africa is like?

    Reed huts, water jugs on your head, walking sticks and a coke bottle that fell from the sky?

  • keeb420
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    3610 months ago

    I’m shocked that Jerry Jones would say something like that. Shocked. Well not that shocked.

    • @vzq
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      3110 months ago

      It’s worse than that! It’s not “go back to Africa”. It’s “go to Africa and see how bad it is there”

      That is really really close to “you should be really really glad we abducted your ancestors, kept them like animals and raped them for generations”.

        • @Jomega@lemmy.world
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          1210 months ago

          If I stabbed you and then patched it up later, you would still be mad at me for stabbing you.

        • @vzq
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          10 months ago

          I’m not exactly sure what you’re trying to say, and since all possible interpretations I’ve tried sound really bad I’ve decided not to speculate.

          • @WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
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            810 months ago

            The USA liked slavery so much that parts of it fought a war to keep it (which they thankfully lost) and that’s apparently a good thing.

  • Carlos Solís
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    2110 months ago

    Imagine if the players actually follow suit and the result is a country like, say, Nigeria becoming a superpower in rugby in a few decades

  • @shifted_drifter@lemmy.world
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    1910 months ago

    Fitting, considering that Buffalo Bill himself was a fucking racist monster who literally is only famous for A. his stage show depicting him scalping a First Nations war chief, and B. being a buffalo murder machine

    • @Hobo@lemmy.world
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      1010 months ago

      That’s more than a bit of a reductionist view of Buffalo Bill. I think there might be a considerable amount of nuance that you’re ignoring about him that you could glean from just reading his wiki[1]. Not saying he’s a beacon of morality and ethics, but he wasn’t just a racist with a stage show either.

      [1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill

    • @hedgehogging_the_bed@lemmy.world
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      710 months ago

      His quotes on Native American rights and women’s rights suggest he might have had broader views than you are considering. He could have been a racist but he appears to have been fairly progressive by 19th century standards.

  • Adub
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    1410 months ago

    Why don’t they go back to the “Free Market” and fund their own football stadiums. Then go fund their own talent building & recruitment programs instead of relying of public schools as well as public college & universities.

  • Gyromobile
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    910 months ago

    I like the upvote to downvote ratio. This is something that everyone can get behind.

    The (radical) left: “Billionaires commit hate speech as we expected.”

    The (radical) right: “Billionaires are based as fuck and don’t care about political correctness.”

    At least everyone finds this newsworthy!

    • @JokklMaster@lemmy.world
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      510 months ago

      Ah yes. How (radical) of the left to acknowledge and condemn poor actions of those in power. Clearly they have gone too far this time.