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Jon Gruden Resigns from Coaching the Las Vegas Raiders Amidst Inappropriate Emails
Introduction
On Monday, October 11th, 2021 Jon Gruden announced that he is resigning as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders amidst the surfacing of insensitive emails Gruden sent in the past using anti – gay, misogynistic, & racist terminology. Jon stepped down from his most recent position (head coach) with the Las Vegas Raiders just prior to having to be fired following an inevitable investigation into all of his various regrettable emails that he apparently sent approximately 10 - years or so ago.
Reaction from the Las Vegas Raiders Front Office
The current owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, Mark Davis, publicly released a brief statement this week stating that Davis has formerly accepted Gruden's resignation from his head coaching position with the Las Vegas Raiders, and the franchises assistant coach, Rich Bisaccia, will serve as the interim head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders effective immediately according to Davis. Bisaccia is currently scheduled to meet with the sports media world on Wednesday, October 13th, 2021 for his highly anticipated first press conference as the Las Vegas Raiders interim head coach.
The New York Times Report that Broke the News
Gruden’s official resignation came immediately following The New York Times reported that Gruden used racist, misogynistic, and anti - gay dialect across copious emails throughout a 7 - year time period. The New York Times report came just a few days after several 10 - year - old emails that Jon previously sent surfaced. According to sources, these insensitive and controversial emails from Gruden included a racist comment about the National Football League Players Association executive director, DeMaurice Smith, as well as emails containing vulgar criticism of Roger Goodell, the long – time commissioner of the National Football League.
According to The New York Times, Jon sent some of these emails to Bruce Allen who was the president of the Washington Redskins at the time that the emails originated. He also sent emails to others over the course of that 7 - year period that ended back in 2018. Gruden apparently emailed Allen that Goodell should have never pressured the former St. Louis Rams head coach, Jeff Fisher, to draft "queers," in reference to the former NFL defensive end Michael Sam. Sam was an openly gay player drafted by St. Louis during the 2014 NFL Draft.
The Times correspondingly reported that Jon used anti - gay slurs repeatedly in several additional instances while referring to the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and Gruden also used offensive language to describe some NFL franchise owners, coaches, and sports media representatives who were covering the National Football League during that time.
During the time that Gruden sent these extremely controversial emails, he was employed by ESPN as the lead analyst for ESPN’s Monday Night Football national broadcasts. This was before Gruden was offered and he accepted a 10 – year $100 million contract in 2018 to return to the Oakland / Las Vegas Raiders as their head coach. Currently Jon was in the 4th year of that 10 – year contract that was paying out Gruden $10 million annually. Unfortunately for Gruden it looks like that deal is now null and void following his resignation as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, and if he had chosen not to resign it was common knowledge that the Las Vegas Raiders were going to fire their head coach, Gruden, from his position with the Las Vegas Raiders NFL franchise.
Media Statements
"I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction," the now former head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, Jon Gruden, explained to the media last Monday night. "Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone. I'm ashamed I insulted De Smith. 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."
"The comments are clearly repugnant under any circumstance," ESPN proclaimed in a recently released statement.
On Friday, October 8th, 2021 the Wall Street Journal reported that Gruden made remarks in an email to Bruce Allen, then the president of the Washington Redskins, saying, "(DeMaurice Smith has) lips the size of Michellin tires."
Gruden defended himself by stating that he routinely used the term, "rubber lips" to "refer to a guy I catch as lying ... he can't spit it out."
“The league was informed of the existence of emails that raised issues beyond the scope of that investigation," according to an NFL spokesperson, Brian McCarthy.
Sources:
“Jon Gruden resigns as Las Vegas Raiders head coach after report of anti-gay, misogynistic language used in emails”, Paul Gutierrez, espn.com, October 11, 2021.
“Jon Gruden”, pro-football-reference.com, October 12, 2021.
“Jon Gruden”, spotrac.com, October 12, 2021.