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Appeals Court Drops Hammer on Tom Brady's White Privilege

Patriots quarterback can have a seat.

Just when it looked like Tom Brady had used his white privilege to defeat the NFL, here comes the shield's revenge.

On Monday, a federal appeals court slapped the New England Patriots' star quarterback with a four-game suspension for his role in Deflategate, the January 2015 scandal, in which he allegedly ordered a team equipment manager to let out air from the footballs to make it easier for him to throw. That means Brady will have to sit out for the Patriots' first four games of the 2016 season.

Remember, a lower judge initially ruled Brady guilty, suspending him for four games of the 2015 season, only for the QB to appeal and win the reverse decision last fall just in time for the Patriots' season.

That raised Black players' eyebrows.

Brandon Marshall, star wideout for the New York Jets, pointed a finger to Brady's white privilege at the time.

"The race card," Marshall said on Showtimes Inside the NFL last September, as reported by ESPN. "There are a lot of players out there that believe that white players — specifically, at the quarterback position — are treated differently."

That being said, it seems like whatever stronghold he had on the league didn't work this time and that the history of shady moves by the Patriots finally caught up with them.

"We hold that the [NFL] Commissioner [Roger Goodell] properly exercised his broad discretion under the collective bargaining agreement and that his procedural rulings were properly grounded in that agreement and did not deprive Brady of fundamental fairness," the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced in a 2-1 judge-panel decision in New York City on Monday, as reported by ESPN.

Brady did throw off the NFL's investigation into the matter last year by destroying his cellphone, which contained nearly 10,000 text messages of potential evidence relating to the footballs being deflated.

Let's see if Brady tries to keep fighting or takes that L and has a seat.

BET Sports News — Get the latest news and information about African-Americans in sports, including weekly recaps, celebrity news and photos of your favorite Black athletes.

 (Photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

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