Buffalo Bills co-owner Terry Pegula criticized the rise in National Football League player protests against racial injustice by saying unhappy Black players should “go back to Africa and see how bad it is,” according to a discrimination lawsuit filed Tuesday against the league.
Pegula in a statement released by the team said the comment attributed to him in the filing is “absolutely false.”
“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,” he said.
The remarks were included in a complaint filed against the NFL and NFL Media in federal court by Jim Trotter, a former NFL Media reporter, who claims he was terminated after speaking out on the need to improve diversity and inclusion within the league. Trotter did not hear the alleged Pegula remark firsthand but reported the account of someone else who did.
Trotter’s lawsuit includes purported examples of discrimination and retaliation, which he said were rampant in the highest levels of the NFL.
Trotter said he first learned of Pegula’s comment when another NFL Media reporter mentioned it on a companywide Zoom call in September 2020.
That reporter recalled a conversation during which Pegula spoke about the recent rise in social activism by NFL players and their support for the Black Lives Matter movement, the lawsuit states.
The unidentified reporter shared on the call, according to Trotter’s complaint, that Pegula had said: “If the Black players don’t like it here, they should go back to Africa and see how bad it is.”
“This remark was so offensive and racist that the people in the meeting appeared to be frozen, unsure how to even react,” Trotter said in the complaint.
A league source told The Buffalo News that the alleged comment was thoroughly investigated, including interviews with Terry and his wife and co-owner, Kim Pegula – who both…
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