Jon Gruden is catching more criticism after comments he made in a 2011 email about NFLPA president DeMaurice Smith surfaced on Friday. In the email, Gruden wrote, “Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires [sic].”
On Sunday morning, Randy Moss and Tedy Bruschi as well as the rest of the crew spoke candidly about the matter.
“This may have been 10 years ago, OK, but Jon Gruden’s response slash excuse was recent. See, I don’t think he understands what he did in that email,” Bruschi said on Sunday NFL Countdown. “When you insult a Black man’s intelligence by demeaning his appearance, that is racist. That is the only way I know it. That is the only way I was raised. That is racist.”
What Moss had to say:
“You heard Adam Schefter talking about the one Black player, well, you don’t want to say his name, because he’s totally wrong in this in not understanding the magnitude of something like this,” Moss said. “We’re going into the 21st century, OK? And instead of us moving forward, we’re moving backwards. And I don’t, I really don’t know what percentage of the National Football League is Black, but I know it’s over 50 percent — 60, 70 percent, OK? And I know we generate a whole lot of money for this National Football League.
And for you to hear Adam Schefter talking about some discipline or some distance from [Raiders owner Mark] Davis, the clock is ticking. We are watching to see what the National Football League is going to do about this, because I got to just say it: We’re trying to move forward going into the 21st century with the National Football League. And you’re talking about the kids from 10, 15 years from now that’s going to come into the league. What is this showing them? If they’re coming in to try to keep this National Football League going, generating all this money, and being this good entertainment for our country. Where are we headed?”
Jason Whitlock saw all the banter about it and had a strong response to Black people being weak over the release of this email and crying on television about it.
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“We can’t remain this weak and phony. Jon Gruden saying DeMaurice Smith has huge lips, which he does, can’t bring us to tears. Are we really this weak? Does the white man’s opinion of our lips mean that much? I like my big lips, never had a woman complain about them.”
“Gruden’s intent was to insult. So? I’m not going on national TV and crying because Jon Gruden or any man insulted me. The feminine energy Randy Moss tapped into is far more insulting than some random email from 10 years ago. How are we this weak?”
Moss added during the conversation that the Raiders’ locker room must be “totally divided” after Gruden’s comments.
“Sometimes we don’t get to choose who we play for,” Bruschi said. “So I mean, if I’m playing for Jon Gruden right now, I’m just keeping my head down and doing what I got to do and earn my check, because I do not feel connected to this head coach based on what this man has done, and I just feel separated. This isn’t an attitude or an environment that is conducive to winning championships. But if this is what I gotta do to play with the man that I feel this way about, I’ll just do it, and do my job, and just worry about getting home and getting back to my family. And that’s not a way to win football games.”
On Monday, more emails surfaced from Gruden that caused him to part ways with the Raiders. The news comes in the wake of a New York Times report that Gruden used misogynistic and anti-gay language in numerous emails during a seven-year period.
The NFL sent the Raiders additional Gruden emails to review, on top of the one about NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith that surfaced last week.
Gruden’s messages were sent to Bruce Allen, the former president of the Washington Football Team, and others, while he was working for ESPN as a color analyst during “Monday Night Football,” the sports network’s weekly prime-time telecast of N.F.L. games. In the emails, Gruden called the league’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, a “faggot” and a “clueless anti football pussy” and said that Goodell should not have pressured Jeff Fisher, then the coach of the Rams, to draft “queers,” a reference to Michael Sam, a gay player chosen by the team in 2014.
More from the Times piece:
In numerous emails during a seven-year period ending in early 2018, Gruden criticized Goodell and the league for trying to reduce concussions and said that Eric Reid, a player who had demonstrated during the playing of the national anthem, should be fired. In several instances, Gruden used a homophobic slur to refer to Goodell and offensive language to describe some N.F.L. owners, coaches and journalists who cover the league.
