‘DUMBORRIS SMITH’

Raiders Head Coach Said Players’ Union Prez Had ‘Lips the Size of Michelin Tires’

Jon Gruden used the racist trope in a 2011 email while discussing the NFL players’ lockout.

The head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders said that the Black leader of the NFL Players Association “has lips the size of michellin [sic] tires” in a July 2011 email, The Wall Street Journal reports. Jon Gruden took aim at DeMaurice Smith, whom Gruden called “Dumboriss Smith,” in the email to a Raiders executive as Smith and others in the NFLPA were negotiating a way out of a lockout that would have thrown a wrench into the 2011-2012 season. Smith said, “Racism like this comes from the fact that I’m at the same table as they are and they don’t think someone who looks like me belongs… I will not let it define me.” Gruden apologized in a statement: “I’m really sorry… I don’t have a racial bone in my body, and I’ve proven that for 58 years.” The NFL is reviewing Gruden’s message, which surfaced as part of a wider NFL review of racism at NFL franchises that includes 650,000 emails.