The NFL and the Las Vegas Raiders are condemning coach Jon Gruden after The Wall Street Journal unearthed an email he sent in 2011 in which he made a racist comment about DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players Association.
Jon Gruden of the Las Vegas Raiders in action against the Pittsburgh Steelers on September 19, 2021, at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. / Credit: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images
Gruden, who was working for ESPN at the time, told The Wall Street Journal that he had been frustrated after the NFL coaches locked out their players over a contract dispute that year, and Smith was helping the players negotiate. Gruden said he didn't trust the direction the players were headed in the negotiations. In the past, he said, he has referred to people he thinks are lying as "rubber lips," and took it "too far" in the email to Allen, according to the Journal.
"I'm really sorry," Gruden said in an interview with the publication. "I was upset. I used a horrible way of explaining it.""I don't think he's dumb. I don't think he's a liar," Gruden told the Journal, referring to Smith. "I don't have a racial bone in my body, and I've proven that for 58 years.
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