Plenty of legal professionals inform their shoppers to not touch upon energetic litigation. That’s as a result of something mentioned by the shopper in a public setting can be utilized by the opposite facet’s legal professionals, in an effort to twist the issues mentioned into knots laters.

When it involves Jim Trotter’s new lawsuit towards the NFL and NFL Network, Trotter (and presumably his legal professionals) haven’t any qualms about Trotter talking publicly concerning the case. When somebody firmly and clearly believes the one story being instructed is the reality, there’s no purpose to be afraid of getting that story twisted into one thing aside from the reality.

Trotter appeared with Michael Holley on Thursday’s Brother From Another on Peacock and SiriusXM 85. Trotter spoke candidly about sure points of the case.

He addressed the query of how he can declare retaliation by the NFL for failing to resume his contract, given the misperception by many who the expiration of a contract offers absolute justification for an employer to maneuver on from an worker.

“People say, ‘Well, your contract was up. How’s that retaliation?’” Trotter mentioned. “In November [2022], I knew that my contract was expiring in March [2023]. I knew that I had ruffled some feathers. I mentioned to my agent, ‘Can you call and see what their plans are? Do they have any interest in renewing and if not time for us to start looking elsewhere.’ He calls the V.P. of expertise there, Sandy Nunez, and he says, ‘Hey, just checking on what’s occurring. Jim’s contract’s going to run out in X variety of months.’ And she says to him, ‘We can see no reason we won’t carry him again. Everybody loves Jim. Now, it might include a pay trim as a result of we’re going to have finances cuts, however there’s no purpose to assume that he gained’t be again.’

“That was in November. Fast forward to the Super Bowl. I asked Roger Goodell that question [about minority representation in the NFL Network newsroom]. Three weeks later, Sandy Nunez asked to meet with me at the Scouting Combine, and her question to me was, ‘Are you in alignment with the newsroom?’ And I said, ‘Of course not. I can’t be in alignment with a newsroom that has no black representation.’ And she says, ‘That’s what I thought.’ She goes, ‘It’s really hard to fight corporate headwinds. Sometimes you got to compromise. And I said, ‘Sandy, I’ve compromised here, here and here.’ And I laid out three examples and I said to her, ‘I am not going to compromise my integrity. And then I specifically asked her, are you now telling me my contract is not going to be renewed?’ And she said, ‘I don’t know. It’s being discussed.’ Three weeks later, I was told it was not going to be renewed.”

Yes, the legal professionals who can be representing the NFL will certainly use these phrases as a place to begin for aggressive follow-up questioning of Trotter at his deposition within the case. And, no, Trotter certainly doesn’t care.

Trotter additionally shared a narrative of how he raised his issues internally, past his determination to twice query the Commissioner at pre-Super Bowl press conferences.

“I’ll tell you a story, and the people in the room can verify it,” Trotter mentioned. “Every summer, the NFL Media group has a talent summit, and in that talent summit, they bring together all the folks from the media group, particularly the front facing talent.

“And we have a day and a half of discussions about where the league is, where it’s going, what we can expect for the upcoming season, all those sorts of things. And during the course of those one and a half days, we had breakout sessions, and in one of the breakout sessions for front facing talent, we meet with the head of the media group who at that time, his name was Mark Quenzel. And it just so happened that Han Schroeder, NFL executive from New York, was in that meeting as well. This was June of 2022.

“And so I said to Mark, I said, ‘We can ask you anything in this meeting, right? Nothing’s off limits.’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘You can ask.’ I said, ‘We just sat in a big ballroom and I listened to you talk about the progress that the league and the media group have made as it relates to diversity, equity, and inclusion.’ I said, ‘There were three other white males up on that stage with you.’ I said, ‘There was no one who looked like me.’ I said, ‘And so as a black employee at the NFL, when you talk about this, how am I supposed to feel about that?’ I said, ‘We have no black managers in the newsroom and we have no full-time black news assistants.’

“And he stopped me and he said, ‘Yes, we do.’ And I said, ‘Where?’ I said, ‘No, we don’t.’ He said, ‘I walked through that newsroom every day, I see them. Yes, we do.’ And at that point, Hans Schroeder interjected, and I said to him, ‘Hans, hold on. I need an answer on this.’ So I said to Mark Quenzel, ‘I will drop all of this right now, I will not bring it up again, if you name one full-time black news assistant in our newsroom.’ And he paused for a moment and he said, ‘I can’t think of it right now. I’ll get back to you.’ We’re now in what, September of 2023? And he still hasn’t gotten back to me.”

Again, that stage of element certainly can be utilized by the NFL’s legal professionals in making ready to defend the league’s pursuits. Again, Trotter certainly doesn’t care.

Trotter, fairly frankly, is the NFL’s worst authorized nightmare. Because he doesn’t care. He made that clear in an emotional conclusion to his feedback to Holley.

“I think the only pause that I got from people was, ‘Have you thought about your career if you do this?’ And I said, my point is, ‘Yeah, I’ve thought about my career, but I’ve also thought about me as a person,’ Michael, without getting too deep into this thing, part of the reason that I’m able to do this, and this is going to sound really hokey and I don’t want to get all emotional and stuff, but my father passed away a few months ago. He knew what happened, and he told me, he said, ‘I’m proud of you.’ That means more to me than any of this other stuff. And my mom said the same thing. So when I lay my head down, I’m good. I’m good.”

And that’s unhealthy for the NFL. Because if and once they understand they need to give Trotter a clean examine to make this factor go away earlier than it turns into a fair larger drawback than it already is, Trotter simply would possibly inform them to take that examine, fold it up actual tight, and stick it up the slot of a really particular sort of sunshine-deprived ATM.