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Washington Redskins v New Orleans Saints

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A former NFL star has blasted the league for ousting him from pro sports in his prime following a run-in police and speaking out about pay disparities.

Junior Galette played in the NFL for teams including the Washington Redskins and the New Orleans Saints before he said he was dropped after going public with pay discrimination allegations. The 32-year-old said he’d been vocal about pay disparities in the league, and believes that his outspokenness and the incident with police put him in the crosshairs of the NFL’s top brass.

“I played in the NFL for eight years, I know for a fact that I’ve been blackballed,” Galette said. “I’ve been told by coaches. It went from hot to all of a sudden cold, without any explanations.”

Galette has spoken out about white players seeming to cinch better pay deals than black ones. He said he was perplexed by one incident where a player who’d been on a four-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs scored a deal where he was paid 1,000 percent more in guaranteed money then Galette did.

“I said ‘hey, this is unfair,’” Galette said. “Then the Washington Redskins withdrew my offer.”

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Cops arrested Galette back in 2017 for disorderly conduct and failure to comply following an incident where local Mississippi police chased, then tased him after an alleged fight. Galette said the charges were dropped – but he said the Redskins still released him a few months later.

Galette said he’s since flown to LA and Seattle for workouts with the teams there after coaches expressed interest, but each time, they did not move forward nor did they give him a reason why.

Galette said he wrote a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell commending him for his work to combat discrimination and asked for help in reinstating him, but he hasn’t heard back.

The free-agent said he’d love to get back in the game, and has kept himself in tip-top shape and hopes to get back in the league. But in the meantime, he’s been participating in protests against discrimination in Louisiana, where he now lives.

“Right now, I’m waiting for interest and seeking relief. In the past few weeks, I joined sanitation workers in New Orleans. I quickly realized that the black man’s struggle is universal – it doesn’t matter if you’re talking about the NFL or PPE and hazard pay in New Orleans, it’s universal.”

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