One day after being reinstated by the NFL, Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett is speaking out again about the brawl that unfolded at the end of the Browns-Steelers November game.
Garrett was suspended indefinitely for ripping off the helmet of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph and hitting him in the head with it. This cost Garrett the final six games of the regular season and roughly $1.2 million in pay. He was also fined $45,623.
Garrett is now alleging that Rudolph used a racial slur which prompted the brawl.
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“He called me the n-word,” Garrett said in an interview on SportsCenter. “He called me a ‘stupid n-word.'”
Rudolph has called the allegation “totally untrue” and an NFL spokesman said the league “found no such evidence” that a racial slur was used.
“When he said it, it kind of sparked something, but I still tried to let it go and still walk away,” Garrett said. “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 reengage 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.”
Rudolph was stunned that Garrett would make such an allegation.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I couldn’t believe he would go that route after the fact.”
Both teams were fined $250,000 and a total of 33 players were disciplined with fines totaling $732,422.
Rudolph and his attorney, Tim Younger, could not be reached for comment. The Steelers deferred to their November statement which stated that Rudolph denied ever using a racial slur during the incident.
