Jon Gruden reportedly resigned as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders mere minutes after Monday’s report from the New York Times indicated he sent additional emails using homophobic language. That report arrived three days after the Wall Street Journal reported the 58-year-old used racially insensitive language in emails in July 2011.
Gruden apologized for the wording of his emails Sunday and expressed how there was no harmful or racial intent behind them. “I don’t have an ounce of racism in me,” Gruden told reporters, per NFL.com. Monday’s report, however, certainly paints a much different picture.
Check out the following excerpt from The New York Times:
But league officials as part of a separate workplace misconduct investigation that did not directly involve him have found that Gruden, now the coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, casually and frequently unleashed misogynistic and homophobic language over several years to denigrate people around the game and to mock some of the league’s momentous changes.
He denounced the emergence of women as referees, the drafting of a gay player and the tolerance of players protesting during the playing of the national anthem, according to emails reviewed by The New York Times.
Gruden’s messages were sent to Bruce Allen, the former president of the Washington Football Team, and others, while he was working for ESPN as a color analyst during “Monday Night Football,” the sports network’s weekly prime-time telecast of N.F.L. games. In the emails, Gruden called the league’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, a “f—–” and a “clueless anti football p—-” and said that Goodell should not have pressured Jeff Fisher, then the coach of the Rams, to draft “queers,” a reference to Michael Sam, a gay player chosen by the team in 2014.
The New York Times indicated the “numerous emails” uncovered took place during a seven-year period ending in early 2018. Gruden, Allen, the NFL and the Raiders did not respond to requests for comment, according to The Times.
