Smith also made headlines this week when he was the subject of a 2011 email that has surfaced where Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden made disparaging racial remarks about him. Gruden sent an email to then-Washington Football Team president Bruce Allen during the 2011 lockout in which he commented on Smith, who is Black, typing, “Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires.”
Smith wasn’t fazed by the racial remarks and addressed the remarks with the Wall Street Journal.
“This is not the first racist comment that I’ve heard and it 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. 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,” Smith told the WSJ.
Smith also told The Mercury News that Lynch joining the NFLPA as the chief brand ambassador is a “huge win in furthering our mission as a full-service union to our men on and off the field.”
