Head coach Jon Gruden of the Las Vegas Raiders responds to the crowd throughout warmups prior to a preseason video game versus the Seattle Seahawks at Allegiant Stadium on August 14, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ethan Miller|Getty Images
Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden utilized racist language to explain the head of the National Football League Players Association, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Gruden utilized anti-Black images to explain NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith in an e-mail sent out to a group executive on July 21, 2011, according to theJournal
“Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires,” Gruden composed in the e-mail to Bruce Allen, the previous president of the franchise now called the Washington Football Team, the Journal reported.
The NFL is evaluating Gruden’s status with the Raiders for prospective discipline, the Journal reported, mentioning a source knowledgeable about the matter.
In action to the report about Gruden’s remark, Smith stated that it isn’t the very first racist remark he’s undergone and “probably will not be the last.”
“This is a thick skin job for someone with dark skin, just like it always has been for many people who look like me and work in corporate America,” Smith stated in a declaration. “You know people are sometimes saying things behind your back that are racist just like you see people talk and write about you using thinly coded and racist language.”
When Gruden sent out the e-mail, the NFL and its gamers were trying to solve a lockout, the Journal reported. It was a work blockage enforced by the league’s owners that lasted from March 12, 2011, to July 25, 2011.
In this July 25, 2011, file picture, NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith, left, and NFL football Commissioner Roger Goodell participate in a press conference at the NFL Players Association in Washington.
Carolyn Kaster|AP Photo
While the NFL’s owners voted to validate a brand-new cumulative bargaining contract on July 21, gamers pulled out of the vote.
Gruden pointed out the lockout for distressing him at the time of his racist remarks, according to theJournal He stated he did not rely on the position of the NFL gamers, who were led by Smith, in the settlements.
Gruden included that he has actually described individuals he thinks are lying as “rubber lips” in the past, which he took it “too far,” according to the Journal.
“I was upset,” Gruden informed theJournal “I used a horrible way of explaining it.”
“I don’t think he’s dumb. I don’t think he’s a liar,” Gruden stated. “I don’t have a racial bone in my body, and I’ve proven that for 58 years.”
The discovery about Gruden’s remark comes as Smith’s position as executive director of the NFLPA hangs in the balance.
On Tuesday night, the NFLPA’s executive committee voted to identify whether Smith must be permitted to stay in the task he has actually held for the past 12 years, ESPN reportedWednesday The 14- member committee was equally divided in a vote of 7-7.
The NFLPA’s 32 group gamer agents are set to vote on Smith’s status on Friday at 6 p.m. ET, according to ESPN.
CNBC’s Jabari Young added to this report.
