Gruden Apologizes For Racist Email Remarks, But The Damage May Have Already Been Done
After starting the season hot, a 10-year old incident might be the early downfall to the 2021 Raiders.
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden was discovered to have sent an email with a racial trope in it about the NFL’s Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith back in 2011. The email in question was found by the Wall Street Journal this past Friday and has made it was through sports news cycles over the weekend resulting in a defensive Gruden issuing an apology.
“I don’t have a racial bone in my body, and I’ve proven that for 58 years,” Gruden told the WSJ after a formal apology in front of reporters.
This was one of the many apologies he uttered over the weekend as he tried to make right of a situation that has spiraled out as the Raiders continue their losing streak.
Gruden wrote in the racist email, “Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires.”
The email was found during an internal workplace misconduct investigation with the Washington Football Team. During the investigation, they found that Gruden, then an ESPN employee, sent the racist email to former Washington president Bruce Allen with whom Gruden had a relationship with.
Gruden tried to backtrack and cover up his harmful words by saying he refers to people who he perceives as liars to have “rubber lips” and that in this case, he went “too far.” This situation stems from the Raiders’ coach being upset with how Smith was representing the players during the new collective bargaining agreement talks back in 2011. Before and after Sunday’s game, he continued to apologize and reiterate that he is not racist but he fails to take full accountability with his dismissive tone and by saying he didn’t recall sending the email.
The harmful comments have rung the NFL community with many not knowing what will happen to the Raiders coach. It is a tricky situation as Gruden was just a color commentator with ESPN at the time of the email, but if the Raiders wanted to intact some form of punishment they could.
Raiders owner Mark Davis issued a statement Friday regarding the situation saying, “The content of an email regarding DeMaurice Smith from Jon Gruden when he worked for ESPN 10 years ago is disturbing and not what the Raiders stand for.”
The NFL has back this sentiment saying Gruden’s comments were “appalling, abhorrent and wholly contrary to the NFL’s values.”
Smith, who has been acting director of the NFLPA since 2009, responded to the situation by saying, “This is not the first racist comment that I’ve heard and it 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.”
On ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown, former coach Rex Ryan and HOF’er Randy Moss spoke powerfully about the situation and how it will impact the Raiders’ locker room:
If anyone thought this situation was going away soon look to how the Raiders responded to this controversy in a loss against Chicago Bears and rookie Justin Fields. The players look unfocused and the play-calling was questionable as the Raiders struggled to get anything going against the Bears who have woes of their own. Former players and coaches noted how it would be tough for the Raiders players to follow in lock with Gruden after the disturbing message was leaked and that HC will face challenges as the season continues.
After the Bears loss, RB Josh Jacobs said that Gruden “never rubbed him the wrong way.” Defensive-end Yannick Ngakoue was more indifferent with the subject as he could only offer, “No comment on that,” as a response.
They say winning cures all but Raiders will have a time in a tough conference, let alone in their division.
