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Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden has reportedly made racist comments about NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith in recently surfaced emails.
The emails, reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, were sent in July 2011 amid attempts by the players and the National Football League to resolve a lockout. Gruden was a broadcaster for ESPN at the time.
According to the newspaper, league owners had voted to approve a new collective agreement, but players chose not to vote immediately due to unresolved issues with the union. The Wall Street Journal said Gruden’s remarks about Smith, who is black, used a “racist trope common in anti-black imagery.”
“Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of Michelin tires,” he reportedly wrote, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Raiders owner Mark Davis condemned the email, stating in a declaration: “The content of an email regarding Jon Gruden’s DeMaurice Smith when he worked for ESPN 10 years ago is disturbing and that’s not what the Raiders stand for.”
Davis said they learned of the email Thursday night from a reporter and were “reviewing it along with other material provided to us today by the NFL. We are addressing the matter with the trainer Gruden and have no further comments at this time. “
A league spokesperson said the email was “appalling, obnoxious and totally contrary to NFL values.”
“We condemn the statement and regret any harm its publication may inflict on Mr. Smith or on anyone,” the NFL said.
Smith told the newspaper: “This is not the first racist comment I hear and it probably won’t be the last. like me and work in American companies. “
“You know people sometimes say racist things behind your back, just like you see people talking and writing about you using racist, lightly coded language,” he added. “Such racism comes from the fact that I’m at the same table with them and they don’t think someone who looks like me belongs. I’m sorry my family had to see something like this, but I would rather see something like this. ‘they know. I won’t let him define me. “
Gruden apologized for his comments, telling the Wall Street Journal he was angry with the lockout.
“I was upset,” Gruden said. “I used a horrible way of explaining it.”
The coach said he was referring to people who thought they were lying as “rubber lips” but took his comments on Smith “too far”.
“I don’t think he’s stupid. I don’t think he’s a liar,” he told the newspaper. “I don’t have a racial bone in my body, and I’ve proven that for 58 years.”
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