Ezekiel Elliott just can’t seem to get out of his own way nowadays – a complete 180-degree reversal of fortune from his recent celebrated gridiron feats. And he blames a White girlfriend’s racism for his precipitous fall from grace.
Nicknamed “Zeke,” the running back phenom has fallen hard since being on top of the world as the MVP of the Ohio State Buckeyes championship win against the Oregon Ducks in 2014 and then, two years later, posting a sensational and record-breaking rookie season for a Dallas Cowboys squad that won a team record 13 games in 2016.
Back in March, he was accused of pulling up a woman’s shirt and allegedly exposing her breasts at a St. Patrick’s Day parade. And this past June, Elliott was in a bar fight where he allegedly pummeled a man into a bloody pulp.
Now, he’s been suspended for the first six games with the Cowboys, as several domestic violence claims have come back to hit him in the face like a boomerang.
Elliott is fighting back, claiming an ex-girlfriend is fulfilling her pledge to try to ruin his life. According to the Daily Mail and ESPN, Elliott seeks to have his suspension reduced or wiped out altogether, claiming that the incident never even occurred. For example, Elliott was never arrested for the alleged domestic violence attack. And secondly, he claims to have proof that his ex-girlfriend made the accusations up in a racially charged ploy to “ruin him” over relationship issues she was upset with.
Elliott claims the girlfriend said the following:
- After being told Elliott didn’t want her at his house on July 21 and he didn’t want her coming out with him, Tiffany Thompson responded with: “Ok this is what you want? Ok then, I’m going to ruin your life. You will see. If I was you, I wouldn’t go out tonight.”
- After being told she couldn’t come to Elliott’s 21st birthday party, Thompson told him, “That’s [the] worst decision you made in your life. I’m going to [ruin your] life now.”
- The report also details a text message in which Thompson told Elliott, “You better be smart. And not be a dumb man. B—-, keep (messing) with the wrong, b—-.”
- After not being allowed into the after party, Thompson was heard yelling and screaming that “your career is over” and then proceeded to call the police.
- Elliott claims he is “100 percent certain” that Thompson told him on July 22, “You are a Black male athlete. I’m a white girl. They are not going to believe you.”
If Elliott’s claims are true, she did not completely succeed in ruining him, but she definitely put a serious dent in his wallet with a nearly half-season suspension without pay — and could turn him into a pariah because of the allegations of being a woman beater.
In most cases, suspensions are reduced when players fight the original judgment. We’ll have to wait and see if this happens with Elliott.
