Head coach Jon Gruden of the Las Vegas Raiders reacts to the crowd during warmups before a preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks at Allegiant Stadium on August 14, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden used racist language to describe the head of the National Football League Players Association, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Gruden used anti-Black imagery to describe NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith in an email sent to a team executive on July 21, 2011, according to the Journal.
"Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires," Gruden wrote in the email to Bruce Allen, the former president of the franchise now known as the Washington Football Team, the Journal reported.
The NFL is reviewing Gruden's status with the Raiders for potential discipline, the Journal reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.
In response to the report about Gruden's remark, Smith said that it isn't the first racist comment he's been subject to and "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," Smith said in a statement. "You know people are sometimes saying things behind your back that are racist just like you see people talk and write about you using thinly coded and racist language."
When Gruden sent the email, the NFL and its players were attempting to resolve a lockout, the Journal reported. It was a work stoppage imposed by the league's owners that lasted from March 12, 2011, to July 25, 2011.