Stephen A Smith raises $100 million Jon Gruden question over Dan Snyder’s 'Blackmail Powerpoint'
It's been almost two years since Jon Gruden had to leave the Las Vegas Raiders midway through a 10-year, $100 million contract. Emails were leaked when Gruden, an ESPN employee back at the time, was seen making racist remarks about the NFLPA's former executive director DeMaurice Smith.
While there's no excuse for what Gruden said and there was no way for him to continue with the Raiders, there is a huge mystery as to how these emails were leaked and who would win anything by these leaks.
A recent ESPN article has pointed to Dan Snyder as a possible whistleblower, but it was clear that many people inside the league knew about these emails way before they were released to the public.
And the $100 million dollar question that has not been answered to this day: who was behind the leaks? Who was the one who sent the emails to the Washington Post in order to end Gruden's tenure? That's exactly what Stephen A. Smith wants to know:
What did Jon Gruden say in the leaked emails?
The Wall Street Journal reported that he sent an email to Bruce Allen, the former team president of the Washington Football Team, in 2011. He used racist, insensitive language to refer to NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith.
He called the NFLPA's executive director, DeMaurice Smith, "Dumborris Smith," and said that "he had lips the size of michellin tires." At the time, he worked for ESPN as an analyst on Monday Night Football, seven years before he got back into coaching with the Raiders.
The coach later told ESPN before he resigned from the head coach job:
"That might not have been the best time of my life. I vented a lot. I never felt we were getting the truth and honesty. I'm ashamed I insulted De Smith," the former head coach said, adding, "I never had a racial thought when I used it. I'm embarrassed by what's out there. I certainly never meant for it to sound that bad."
He currently works as an offensive analyst for the New Orleans Saints, helping out fellow quarterback Derek Carr, his former quarterback in Las Vegas.