N.F.L. Reporter Files Racial Discrimination Claim Against the League After Dismissal

Jim Trotter, a former NFL Network reporter, has sued the NFL and the cable channel of the League for racial discrimination, claiming that his contract was not renewed this year because he repeatedly spoke about the lack of diversity of the League in the League office, among his coaches and within his media.

Trotter, now the Athletic columnist, a sports website owned by The New York Times Company, said in a 53 -page complaint filed in a federal court in Manhattan who left him in retaliation for, among other things, the commissioner commissioner commissioner of the public commissioner.

“The NFL has affirmed that it wants to be responsible for diversity, equity and inclusion,” Trotter said in a statement. “I tried to do it, and it cost me my work.”

Trotter said he had previously raised companies on discrimination in the NFL before Take Goodell to the homework on national television In February 2023. Among his statements were what he believed were racist comments that supposedly made by the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, and the owner of Buffalo Bills, Terry Pegula.

In August 2020, he affirms the demand, Trotter asked Jones about why there were no more black professionals in decision -making positions in the NFL teams. “If blacks feel a child on the way, they must buy their own team and hire who they want to hire,” Jones replied, according to the complaint.

Jones, in a statement, said: “Diversity and inclusion are extremely important for me personally and for the NFL, the representation made by Jim Trotter of a conversation that occurred more than three years ago with Myelf and our VP of players personnel, is McClay” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “

Trotter said he wanted to mention Jones in the air during his coverage of Jon Gruden in 2021, since the racist emails written by the former Raiders coach came to light, because he felt that there was a pattern or dismissal towards diversity. The lawsuit states that two of Trotter supervisors told him not to use Jones’ comment.

The lawsuit states that Pegula’s comment was transmitted by a colleague from the network that made a September 2020 videoconference attended by about 40 employees from the NFL media or the murder of George Floyd. According to the Trotter account, the employee of the NFL media told Pegula saying: “If black players do not like here, they should return to Africa and see how bad it is.”

In a statement, Pegula said that the appointment attributed to him is “absolutely false”, and added that he was “horrified that someone connect me with an accusation of this child.”

A NFL spokesman said the League investigated after NFL network executives reported what the employee had shared at the staff meeting and could not corroborate the journalist’s account.

“Mr. Trotter raised his concerns on numerous occasions about the registration of the NFL about diversity and racial discrimination, but the NFL did nothing to legitimately investigate or address his concerns, he even thought that Topy the Bewing Committee was behavior conducted here,” the complaint said. “

The NFL spokesman said in a statement: “We took his concerns seriously, but we strongly disputed his specific accusations, partly those that were made against his colleagues dedicated to the NFL Media” and said that the decision not to renew was a driving.

Despite the disagreement, Trotter, who was used by the NFL network for five years, expected this spring to be offered. According to the complaint, Sandra Núñez, a vice president who excessive the talent in the NFL Nflwork air, told the trotter agent last November that “he could not imagine any reason why his contract wind was not renewed” in March 2023, and asked his wanted his wanted.

But in February, just before the Super Bowl, Trotter asked Commissioner Goodell at a press conference on the commitment of the League with diversity and why a black person had never been hired as a senior manager in the NFL NFL Nwwwwork writing room. The question was similar to a Trotter had done Goodell at the Super Bowl press conference of the previous season.

The next day, according to Trotter’s complaint, his supervisor asked one of his colleagues: “Why does Jim keep mentioning this?”

At the beginning of March, Trotter states that Núñez asked him if he was “aligned” with the NFL, to which he replied that he was not aligned with a writing room without “black representation in decision -making positions.” On March 24, Núñez told Trotter agent that the Trotter contract was not renewing.

Trotter seeks damage to determine in the trial and appointment of an anoblado monitor to investigate the “policies and practices of the league in the hiring, retention and progress of blacks through all levels of the organization and hierarchy of the NFL”.

“The NFL should be ashamed of racial mood openly expressed by team owners and a complete lack of action by the League after being notified,” Doug Wigdor and David Gottlieb said Trotter lawyers, in a statement.

The demand is the last of a series of legal challenges that allege racial discrimination in the NFL in 2019, the former field marshal of the San Francisco 49ers, Colin Kaepernick, received a multimillion -dollar agreement after he claimed it with a hectic and hard brutality of social injustice in the national concrete.

Trotter is represented by the same law firm that Brian Flores, a black and Hispanic assistant coach with the Minnesota Vikings who demand the league and several teams for discriminating Racialy against him while requesting chief training work. A judge ruled in March that the demand for flowers can prevent the judicial system instead of being transferred behind closed doors in private arbitration.

The League has tried for decades to increase the hiring of color trainers and senior team executives, with mixed results. The Rooney Rule, which the League introduced under the threat of civil action, requires that the teams include non -white and women candidates in interviews for open positions in 2003. Six of the 32 coaches in chief of the league are colored people, compared to four in 2020, but below the record of eight in 2018. The part of the color assistants affected a record of 42.9 percent In 2022, two percentage points more than in 2021.

The number of black team presidents and general managers has also increased. In the last three years, five teams hired black presidents, and there are eight black mangers, which represent a quarter of the League teams. As recently as 2020, there were only two black managers. The first black president of a NFL team, Jason Wright of the Washington commanders, was hired in 2020, and Sandra Douglass Morgan, president of the Raiders of Las Vegas, in July 2022, the first black woman to hold the position.

Jenny Vrentas Contributed reports.