The News
Thursday 21 of November 2024

Chief Resigns after Labeling Steelers' Tomlin with Slur


Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin talks on his headset during the first half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears in Chicago,photo: AP/Charles Rex Arbogast
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin talks on his headset during the first half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears in Chicago,photo: AP/Charles Rex Arbogast
Smith says he was upset that Tomlin had instructed his team to stay in a stadium tunnel instead of standing on the field for the national anthem

PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh-area volunteer fire chief has lost his post after using a racial slur to describe Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.

Paul Smith of the Muse fire company in Cecil Township wrote on Facebook that he added Tomlin to a list of “no-good” people he describes with the slur. Smith says he was upset that Tomlin had instructed his team to stay in a stadium tunnel instead of standing on the field for the national anthem ahead of Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears.

The Cecil Township Board of Supervisors said on its website Tuesday that Smith “is no longer the volunteer fire chief.”

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Smith resigned. Smith also told the newspaper that he is “not the racist the media portrays me as” and that he “posted in anger.”