DeMaurice Smith issues statement on Jon Gruden’s leaked email
NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith issued a statement Monday on Twitter in response to a racial trope used about him in an email Raiders coach Jon Gruden sent 10 years ago.
Smith confirmed Gruden has reached out to him since an email was leaked to the Wall Street Journal on Friday in which Gruden used an offensive phrase to describe him.
“I appreciate that he reached out to me. I told him that we will connect soon, but make no mistake, the news is not about what is said in our private conversation, but what else is said by people who never thought they would be exposed and how they are going to be held to account,” Smith wrote on social media.
Gruden told ESPN over the weekend additional emails have been received by the organization, which is in the process of reviewing them and considering any disciplinary action.
The league is believed to be monitoring the team’s response.
Smith said he’s more concerned about the big picture than this specific instance of racial bias.
“The email from Jon Gruden – and some of the reaction to it – confirms that the fight against racism, racist tropes and intolerance is not over,” he wrote. “This is not about an email as much as it is about a pervasive belief by some that people who look like me can be treated as less. The email has also revealed why the comments by some with powerful platforms to explain this away are insidious and hypocritical. It is as if there is a need to protect football above the values of equality, inclusion and respect.
“The powerful in our business have to embrace that football itself has to be better, as opposed to making excuses to maintain the status quo.”
Gruden said at his Monday news conference the situation has been a learning experience.
“I’ve learned a lot and again I’m not going to rehash the event again,” he said. “I think I feel very good about the things I have learned. I also feel really good about what I stand for, as I said yesterday, and I’ll be happy to talk about football, but I’ll just leave it at that.”
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.
