Jerry Jones Responds to Racist Quote Allegations

Former NFL network employee Jim Trotta has filed a lawsuit for racial discrimination against the NFL, and two owners were named in particular with allegations of some pretty over-the-top racist quotes: the Buffalo Bills' Terry Pegula and Dallas Cowboys' Jerry Jones.

Jones went public on Monday and denied the allegations, calling them "simply not accurate," according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Clarence Hill Jr.

"Diversity and inclusion are extremely important to me personally and to the NFL. The representation made by Jim Trotter of a conversation that occurred over three years ago with myself and our VP of Player Personnel Will McClay is simply not accurate"

- Jerry Jones

Hill notes that Jones doesn't necessarily deny having had the conversation with Trotter, nor does he deny the general sentiment of the conversation. For now, all he has denied is the accuracy of the quote.

Of course, not denying the conveyed sentiment doesn't mean he did say something along those lines, but it is notable that Jones doesn't seem to be dismissing Trotter's evidence and hearsay.

This could be a messy lawsuit for the NFL, with a lot of high-profile implications and some very important people potentially being required to give testimony.

It wouldn't be a surprise to see the NFL to try to make this go away as quietly as possible though.

Of course, Jerry Jones is always a bit of a wildcard. Usually in a situation like this you'd assume that beyond a simple denying of the accusation, anyone mentioned would try to keep pretty quiet in public. We know Jones has a very hard time staying out of the public eye, sometimes to his own detriment, and that could cause a little more drama than we'd usually see in a proceeding like this one.

Diversity and inclusion are hot-button issues, which the NFL has publicly stated that it is very concerned about. They have made public claims committing to these values along with promises that they're taking them seriously. This lawsuit obviously calls their commitment to those values into question.

The existence of the lawsuit at all was sure to drum up plenty of outrage in sports media (and especially on social media), but with two fanbases now specifically pulled into the frey it's going to get even uglier.