A retaliation suit filed in 2023 was settled earlier this month between former NFL media reporter Jim Trotter and the National Football League. The Howard alumnus plans to use a portion of the settlement payout to fund an HBCU sports journalism scholarship.
Although the exact terms of the settlement were not made public, Trotter announced via social media that the NFL agreed to donate in support of the scholarship.
The lawsuit was originally filed after Trotter alleged racial discrimination within the league, who subsequently would not renew his contract.
Trotter made claims of a hostile work environment for Black employees, unfair hiring practices and alleged several racist remarks made by league higher-ups, including Dallas Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones and Buffalo Bills team owner Terry Pegula, even alleging Pegula said, “If the Black players don’t like it here, they should go back to Africa and see how bad it is,” in response to the league’s social justice initiatives.
At a sports media and management event during Howard’s centennial homecoming, Trotter told The Hilltop, “From the very first moment that I filed this lawsuit… my focus was always on having a portion of it going back to HBCU students that want to be sports journalists.”
In a press release, Trotter announced the scholarship would be under the new Work, Plan, Pray Foundation.
2024 Howard school of communications graduate and current Los Angeles Lakers public relations intern George Hamilton III touched on the importance of the work of his fellow Bison.
“What Mr. Trotter is doing is the key,” Hamilton told The Hilltop. “There are plenty of Black and brown people who have the talent and skills to be in decision-making positions within all leagues and the NFL. What he’s doing with the scholarship is making sure they have a chance to show what they can do.”
One of Trotter’s attorneys, David Gottlieb, released a statement saying the journalist “should be applauded for using this opportunity to create a charity with the mission of helping Black sports journalism students and creating more diversity in his field, consistent with the goals of his lawsuit from the start.”
The scholarship has not yet been launched, but Trotter assured students that it is among his top priorities.
“I’m talking with advisors, board members, I’m asking everyone to think outside the box,” he said.
Further than financially, Trotter hoped to affect change by taking his stand against the NFL. On this front, however, he remains unfulfilled.
“We had no Black managers, no Black copy editors, we had no full time Black employees on the news desk. To my knowledge, nothing has changed, which is really disappointing,” he told The Hilltop.
Hamilton said he shared similar observations about the NFL while at the league’s headquarters earlier this year.
“There really hasn’t been much change. I talked with a panel of five Black employees at their headquarters, and three of them went to Howard. Outside of them, just about everyone who was pulling the strings didn’t look like me,” he said.
Simply calling the league out for poor diversity, equity and inclusion practices is a tried method that has not garnered much success, but Trotter believes he has the answer.
“I think you have to speak their language, and their language is money. Other than that, nothing else has moved the NFL,” Trotter told The Hilltop.
According to Trotter, after bringing his concerns to the NFL privately for two years, he decided to speak their language.
“The way change is made in this league is through litigation or a loss of revenue,” Trotter said, referencing the Rooney Rule and former Washington Commanders owner Dan Synder’s firing. “If fans say, ‘We can’t support a product that isn’t supportive of the Black community,’ they would feel that.”
Copy edited by Jalyn Lovelady
