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Snoop Dogg glad son has escaped head injuries by quitting American football

Snoop Dogg is glad his son Cordell Broadus quit American football as he fears the game would have left him with brain damage.

The rapper, real name Calvin Broadus Jr., is a keen fan of the sport, and even runs his own youth league, while Cordell, 21, was a promising wide receiver for the University of California, Los Angeles until quitting in 2016.

Snoop says he was initially upset that his son gave up the game rather than turn professional, but has since researched Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease caused by minor concussions that many retired players have fallen ill with.

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“It kind of upset me but then I started to look into the CTE situation, and into the guys with head injuries and I said to myself, my son’s very smart for getting out early and maintaining his mind state,” Snoop tells U.S. chat show host Wendy Williams.

The Drop It Like It’s Hot hitmaker, 46, added that it was “difficult” for Cordell to break the news to him, but that he understood the decision as his son told him he had played the game to please him, and now wanted to pursue his own choice of career. He has since embarked on a modelling career and has walked the catwalk for Tommy Hilfiger.

Pennsylvania neuropathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu’s battle to raise awareness about the prevalence of CTE in former American football players was depicted in the 2015 movie Concussion, which starred Will Smith.

The disease causes sufferers to experience problems with thinking and memory, confusion, and eventually dementia, and has been found in the brains of several players who took their own lives.

Bosses at National Football League (NFL) long denied any link between playing the game and the brain disease. They have since accepted there is a link between the regular head injuries players suffer and the condition – but still dispute claims made about the severity of the problem.

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