On Wednesday, Myles Garrett was reinstated back into the National Football League after an ugly brawl between the Steelers-Browns on November 14th that saw Myles Garrett rip the helmet off of Mason Rudolph and smash him over the head with it.
“He called me the N-word,” Garrett told Outside the Lines’ Mina Kimes during an interview that aired Thursday night on SportsCenter. “He called me a ‘stupid N-word.'”
“When he said it, it kind of sparked something, but I still tried to let it go and still walk away. But once he came back, it kind of reignited the situation. And not only have you escalated things past what they needed to be with such little time in the game left, now you’re trying to re-engage and start a fight again. It’s definitely not entirely his fault, it’s definitely both parties doing something that we shouldn’t have been doing.
“I don’t say the N-word, whether it’s with ‘a’ [or] ‘er.’ To me personally, just shouldn’t be said, and whether it’s by family, friends, anyone, I don’t want to use it because I don’t want [people to] find that appropriate around me for anyone to use.”
During that interview, the Browns defensive end hinted at an NFL coverup of audio that he believes existed:
“Most quarterbacks wear mics in their helmets,” he said. “He somehow lost his helmet and had to get another one without a mic. There were guys who were mic’d up near me—near us—during that time who didn’t hear anything, and from what I’ve heard, there [may] have been audio during that game that could’ve heard something or could not have heard something, but they don’t want to say.
“So something was said. I know something was said. Now, whether the NFL wants to acknowledge it, that’s up to them.”
Mason Rudolph has since responded as well as his legal team:
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“Mr. Garrett maliciously uses this false allegation to coax sympathy, hoping to be excused for what clearly is inexcusable behavior. Despite other players and the referee being in the immediate vicinity, there are zero corroborating witnesses – as confirmed by the NFL,” Younger & Associates said. “Although Mr. Rudolph had hoped to move forward, it is Mr. Garrett who has decided to utter this defamatory statement – in California. He is now exposed to legal liability.”
