The USFL’s first week of football and its first scandal are both in the books and in news that is sure to disappoint management, the scandal is dominating the conversation.
The trouble started last week when video surfaced from the doc United By Football: A Season in the USFL, in which then-Pittsburgh Maulers player De’Veon Smith was shown being cut by the team, apparently, for requesting pizza instead of chicken salad.
“In the footage, Smith claimed that when asked if he ate chicken salad, he said no and asked if there was something else he could eat,” the New York Post reports. When a staff member came in with a pizza, Smith claimed he simply asked if he could have a slice.
“Maulers coach Kirby Wilson, though, had already ‘moved on’ from Smith, and said in the clip, ‘I’m happy we did it.'”
After the bizarre video stirred up a firestorm on Twitter, the Maulers put out a statement saying that Smith “had violated three team rules in a 24-hour span, and in this particular incident, disrespected a cafeteria worker, which wasn’t captured on camera.”
To that, Smith himself responded on Monday by demanding evidence that he had broken team rules.
Smith continued, implying the team was lying.
In another tweet, Smith denied all allegations and said that he and the coach even spoke after the incident.
“I was never made aware that I violated any team rules, let alone 3 in a 24hr span,” Smith wrote. “I never disrespected anyone. Coach Kirby and I spoke after being released. In that talk, he said that he’d certainly vouch for my character.”
The Maulers have not released any further statement.
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