Jim Trotter, a former NFL Media journalist, has filed a lawsuit against the NFL for racial discrimination and retaliation.
The lawsuit alleges that Trotter’s contract was not renewed because he repeatedly voiced concerns regarding equity and racial injustice and that the NFL refused to address long-standing institutional discrimination.
In the opening exchanges of the lawsuit, Trotter’s lawyers have described the NFL’s legal position as “morally abhorrent.”
The NFL intends to file motions to dismiss the case. Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch has sent a letter to a federal judge explaining that the NFL intends to file a motion to dismiss the case.
Jim Trotter's lawyers describe the NFL's position that it has the legal right to fire Trotter for complaining about workplace diversity and inclusion "morally abhorrent." https://t.co/J09HhMMRP3
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) November 27, 2023
The early stages of the Jim Trotter lawsuit against the NFL include the predictable exchange of broad, sweeping — and entirely contradictory — declarations that eventually will yield to the effort to determine the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Trotter, a former employee of the NFL’s in-house media conglomerate, believes he was targeted for termination (in the form of non-renewal of his contract) because he agitated internally (and externally, at a pair of high-profile press conferences) regarding issues of racial diversity in the workplace.
The NFL, on November 17, issued its predictably broad and sweeping denial of any responsibility.
In a three-page response to the NFL’s letter outlining its planned preliminary defense and seeking a stay of any efforts to develop facts through the discovery process until the motion to dismiss is resolved, Trotter’s lawyers attack the fundamental flaws in the NFL’s knee-jerk “deny everything” strategy.
“Defendants ignore the allegations of the Complaint and are flat-out wrong on the law,”
attorney David Gottlieb wrote.
“Moreover, Defendants’ position is morally abhorrent — the NFL literally takes the position that it is permitted to terminate an employee for raising complaints about an employer’s lack of inclusion.”
They’re basically saying,
“Hold on, you’re claiming it’s perfectly fine to fire someone for doing the things that Trotter did to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace?”
Of course, the NFL’s eventual position will be that it fired Trotter for budgetary reasons unrelated to his potentially protected activities.
For now, the frontline defense arises from a belief that they have every right to fire him for complaining about lack of diversity and inclusion.
Former National Football League reporter Jim Trotter filed a discrimination lawsuit against the NFL and NFL Media Tuesday, alleging that he was let go by the football league because he publicly challenged Commissioner Roger Goodell and other executives on the NFL’s
“record of race discrimination and lack of diversity.”
According to the lawsuit, earlier this year, Trotter, a Black man, was asked by the NFL’s vice President of on-Air talent management, Sandra Nunez, to confirm whether Trotter was “in alignment” with the NFL after he publicly challenged Goodell on national TV about NFL Media’s lack of Black employees in senior management.
After Trotter allegedly said he was not “in alignment” with the league’s alleged lack of diversity and inclusion, he was told the NFL would not renew his contract, according to the lawsuit.
In a statement to CNN, the NFL disputed Trotter’s claim that he was let go due to racial discrimination, instead attributing his firing to a company-wide decision to lay off employees.
“Mr. Trotter’s departure from NFL Media was one of many difficult decisions — similar to decisions recently made by many other media organizations — to address a challenging economy and a changing media environment,”
an NFL spokesperson said.
Trotter’s lawsuit also alleges that his experience with discrimination was not limited to the circumstances surrounding his firing.
According to the suit, the sports reporter witnessed hostile comments by NFL team owners on multiple occasions.
In one example, when discussing player protests against racial injustice, Trotter alleges that Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula said,
“If the Black players don’t like it here, they should go back to Africa and see how bad it is.”
In a statement, Pegula vehemently denied Trotter’s allegation.
In another example, the suit alleges that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones responded to a question posed by Trotter about the lack of Black leaders in the NFL by saying,
“If Blacks feel some kind of way, they should buy their own team and hire who they want to hire.”
In a statement to CNN, Jones said the details of the conversation in the claim were inaccurate.
“Diversity and inclusion are extremely important to me personally and to the NFL,”
Jones said.
The NFL said it disputes the allegations laid out in Trotter’s suit.
“We take his concerns seriously, but strongly dispute his specific allegations, particularly those made against his dedicated colleagues at NFL Media,”
a league spokesperson said.
In 2022, 58% of full-time employees hired by the NFL were people of color, according to the league.
According to the league, seven of NFL Media’s nine most recent on-air hires are Black.
Trotter’s suit argues that the NFL and team owners have
“repeatedly shown they are unable to monitor and police themselves.”
Trotter’s claim also seeks a full-scale investigation into discrimination within the NFL, including NFL team owners.
“I hope this lawsuit leads to real change across the league and in the newsroom,”
Trotter said in a statement.
Trotter’s lawyers have opted to use strong language to describe that effort to avoid legal responsibility without having to subject the Commissioner and/or multiple owners to aggressive questioning under oath.
Even if a court of law agrees with the NFL on this, the court of public opinion has every right to realize that the NFL is claiming it has the absolute right to fire an employee for doing the things Trotter did, with no repercussion of any kind.
If the NFL gets its way at this early stage of the case, the vow to do it again will be implied.
Fans’ reactions were as follows:
So they admitted that's why they fired him?
— Standard Time Lawyer (@eplawyer) November 27, 2023
That’s just weird. Just cos he has the right doesn’t mean it’s right
— Franklin Chijioke (@Ceejokolo) November 27, 2023
A.) He wasn't fired, his contract wasn't renewed. Huge difference. B.) Good luck proving in court that his contract wasn't renewed because of his complaining about workplace diversity and inclusion. This will be laughed out of court.
— Tim Buttrum (@TimButtrum316) November 27, 2023
But legal, since he wasn't actually fired.
— Breen Dix (@breen_dix) November 27, 2023
Even if proven to be the reason for not having his contract renewed, Trotter must not have learned what every other corporate employee has learned. It’s better to challenge in private than to try and play “gotcha” in public.
— Mike McCulloch (@MikeMcCullochAZ) November 27, 2023
If you have to present moral arguments in court, it's pretty pathetic and shows that you don't have any legal ones. Which employer likes an employee to publicly insult you?
— Muhammed Yilmaz (@Memmed153) November 27, 2023
He was working the company paper. It's a propaganda machine, like Fox News. quit pretending it's something else. Maybe he can soak them.
— Kerry Flynn (@KerryFlynnatAVL) November 27, 2023
