LAS VEGAS (KLAS)– Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden is under fire for racist comments he made in a 2011 email.
Gruden was complaining about then head of the NFL’s Players Association, DeMaurice Smith, and wrote to Bruce Allen, then with the Washington Football Team that “Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of Michelin tires.”
The racially insensitive email is not sitting well for the founder of the Dr. Martin Luther King Committee of Las Vegas.
“It’s hurtful it’s painful it’s uncalled for,” Wendell Willams said. “I would hope that people who easily make comments such as this realize it is very hurtful.”
Gruden told the Wall Street Journal that he cannot recall the email and added, “I was upset. I used a horrible way of explaining it. I don’t think he’s dumb. I don’t think he’s a liar. I don’t have a racial bone in my body, and I’ve proven that for 58 years.”
Wiliams says he hopes Gruden takes this time to reflect on the power his hurtful words have but his poor choice of words from a decade ago should be held against him.
“He is a person that our community has embraced here in las Vegas the issue is important we hate to hear anytime someone makes a comment like that but I think he deserves an opportunity to grow and learn from this,” Wiliams added.
Williams is a dedicated Raiders fan. He would hate to see the Raider nation suffer because of this but as a community can grow from it.
