Bills Owner Terry Pegula Denies Shocking Racist Allegation in Lawsuit

Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula denies making racist statement alleged by Jim Trotter in lawsuit against NFL.

Jim Trotter, the former NFL Network reporter whose contract was not renewed last spring, has alleged in a discrimination lawsuit filed against the league that at least two owners made racist remarks about Black players' protests against racial injustice.

One of them was Buffalo Bills co-owner Terry Pegula. According to Trotter, Pegula (in Trotter's presence) said: "If the Black players don’t like it here, they should go back to Africa and see how bad it is.”

Pegula on Tuesday released a strongly worded denial.

"The statement attributed to me in Mr. Trotter’s complaint is absolutely false," Pegula stated on the team's website. "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."

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— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) September 12, 2023

Trotter also accused Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones of telling him regarding the lack of Black professionals in high positions in the league, “If Blacks feel some kind of way, they should buy their own team and hire who they want to hire.”

Although Trotter never reported those statements until filing the suit, he claims he did complain internally to the league but that no action was taken.

Pegula and his wife, Kim, last year reached a deal with state and county officials for construction of a $1.4 billion new stadium that will be funded mostly by $850 million in taxpayer money from the state and Erie County .