Subscribe
Follow Us
In a recent interview on Dr. Jim Johnson's “A Word … With Jason Johnson” Jim Trotter recalled a tense text message conversation with Stephen A. Smith following Smith's interview with Rodger Goodell on First Take. Smith asked Goodell about Trotter's lawsuit without reaching out to Trotter to get the full story, which upset Trotter greatly.
“The biggest disappointment in this whole process for me has been the people who are journalists who speak on my case without actually reading the complaint, or without talking to me first about it,” Trotter said in the interview. “So Stephen A. Smith has the Commissioner on his show, and he asks the Commissioner about my contract not being renewed and the Commissioner says, ‘Oh, it was just a budget cut thing.’ So when that was all over, I texted him. And I said, ‘Man, I saw the interview. I just wish you had called me first to get some background and it would have shown you that what the Commissioner said was untrue.”
Trotter then recalls the conversation with Smith becoming tense after his question.
“He comes back and says to me, ‘That’s on you. We had been advertising the Commissioner was coming on for a week and a half, and I also spoke to a mutual friend who gave me background on the case.’ So I had texted him back, and I said — and you know, I’m trying to be cool, because I’m not into this Black man on Black man, you know, crime thing — and I said to him, I said, ‘A lot of assumptions there. But I also thought as journalists we were taught you go directly to the source and not to second-hand information.”
According to Trotter, Smith lashed out at him after his statement about journalists and second-hand information.
“And now that set him off. I got all caps coming at me, I got exclamation points coming at me and all this other stuff. And he’s telling me how this wasn’t about me, and ESPN is a partner with the NFL, and he didn’t have to ask Roger Goodell that question at all, and this, that, and the other. And so finally I said to him, ‘Well, you can have me on to give my side.’ I said, ‘Your move.’ And he said, again, the exclamation points, ‘That ain’t happening. This wasn’t about you. And I did you a courtesy by even getting the Commissioner to comment on it.’ So anyway at the end of it I just said, ‘A courtesy, huh?’ I said, ‘Man, I appreciate you.’ And I left it alone.”
Trotter is suing the NFL for discrimination following his public challenge of Commissioner Rodger Goodell on the league's record of race discrimination and lack of diversity. Trotter alleges that his contract with NFL Network was not renewed after he expressed his disagreement with the NFL's stance.
He also details instances of discrimination involving several league personnel, including controversial remarks attributed to Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Both Jones and Pegula deny the allegations.
Trotter talks about the case at length on Johnson's podcast. Click here to listen to the full episode.
