Later this year, the movie Concussion, starring Will Smith, will bring the NFL’s head injury crisis to the silver screen. The author of the book and magazine article the movie is based on, though, is already on the media circuit and just made a comparison that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and other suits at the league won’t be happy with.
“The NFL, it’s sort of like the tobacco industry,” said writer Jeanne Marie Laskas, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Did the tobacco industry really want to say you know what, this is bad for you?”
Laskas’ remarks came during an appearance on CBS This Morning on Tuesday.
The film and Lasas’ reportage tells the story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, whose research showed the connection between reported head trauma in collision sports like football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease.
Concussion comes out on Christmas Day.