Sean McDermott Responds To Allegations Against Bills Owner
Former NFL Media reporter Jim Trotter filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL on Tuesday, and it included allegations of racist comments made by Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
The lawsuit alleged in 2020, a fellow NFL Media reporter recalled a conversation he had with Pegula, who was speaking to the reporter about the NFL’s social justice initiatives and Black Lives Matter.
“If the Black players don’t like it here, they should go back to Africa and see how bad it is,” Pegula allegedly said, per ESPN.
“The statement attributed to me in Mr. Trotter’s complaint is absolutely false,” Pegula said Tuesday in a statement. “I am horrified that anyone would connect me to an allegation of this kind. Racism has no place in our society and I am personally disgusted that my name is associated with this complaint.”
The Bills team was made aware of the allegations, and head coach Sean McDermott defended Pegula.
“I put out an internal thing (Tuesday) here with the leadership group,” McDermott told reporters, per team video. “In the six now going on seven years that I’ve known Terry Pegula, that is not his character, and that is not the man I know.”
Jones allegedly told Trotter, “If Blacks feel some kind of way, they should buy their own team and hire who they want to hire.”
“Jones’ comment allegedly was made during a conversation with Cowboys executive Will McClay, who is Black, and Trotter about ‘why teams have so few Black decision-makers,’ according to the lawsuit,” ESPN wrote. “Trotter, who described the exchange as ‘rather contentious,’ said that Jones ultimately suggested that he and Trotter ‘should ‘agree to disagree’ about the NFL’s issues with race.'”
The Cowboys owner said this exchange was “simply not accurate” in a statement.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s “First Take” on Wednesday that these simply were “allegations” that will be addressed.
Trotter wrote on social media he hopes his lawsuit “leads to real change across the league and in the newsroom.”