Shannon Sharpe on Jon Gruden: ‘He Has A Racist Tongue’
Sports commentator Shannon Sharpe expressed his thoughts on the Jon Gruden email scandal, calling out higher-ups for not taking the racial tropes Gruden. Sharpe felt that the slurs against DeMaurice Smith were not taken seriously and that Gruden did not get into trouble until it was discovered that he also said offensive things about other minority groups.
“I believe all minority groups should be treated equally. I’m all about fairness. We should be equally outraged,” Sharpe captioned the video of highlights from Tuesday’s Skip and Shannon: Undisputed.
“The groundswell wasn’t like it was when [Gruden] said what he said about D. Smith,” adding, “But when it came to the other groups: Lord! That’s a bridge too far.”
The other minority groups Sharpe mentions in the show are the LGBTQ community, women, and Asian communities, reiterating that all minority groups should have the same amount of importance when dealing with injustice.
“It seems like when people criticize our race, our minority group, African Americans, [we] have to move on.”
Sharpe continued to express his opinion on the matter regarding changed behavior only happens when people have been caught.
“My grandfather used to say, ‘Boy, given a choice to do right or wrong, and there’s no one there to hold you accountable for the wrong, more times than not people will do wrong.’”
Gruden denounced claims that he is a racist by saying that “he didn’t have a racist bone” in his body in a previous public apology. Sharpe responded, “I don’t know how many racist bones you got but I know you have a very insensitive and racist tongue.”
Gruden announced his resignation Monday.
“I have resigned as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders,” Gruden said in a statement, obtained by NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport. “I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone.” Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia has been named the Raiders’ interim head coach.
Watch the full clip here.
