Jon Gruden Repeatedly Used Homophobic, Misogynistic Language in Emails
Jon Gruden is in a whole heap of trouble. According to the New York Times, the Las Vegas Raiders head coach used homophobic and misogynistic language repeatedly in emails sent to Bruce Allen, the former president of the Washington Football team. This comes a few days after an embarrassing email surfaced in which he used a racist trope to refer to NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith.
Earlier on Monday, ESPN's Adam Schefter is reported the NFL had sent the Raiders additional Gruden emails, including one where he disparaged commissioner Roger Goodell with a "vulgar description." The other messages reportedly included harsh words for a handful of team owners and more. The league was reportedly waiting to see if the Raiders punish their head coach in any way.
The NFL sent the Raiders additional Jon Gruden emails to review on top of the negative one that surfaced last week and, per sources around the league, the NFL is actively monitoring the situation and waiting to see how the team will handle the matter.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 11, 2021
Well, now we known what many of the emails contain. From the Times piece:
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 “faggot” and a “clueless anti football pussy” 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 article continues:
In numerous emails during a seven-year period ending in early 2018, Gruden criticized Goodell and the league for trying to reduce concussions and said that Eric Reid, a player who had demonstrated during the playing of the national anthem, should be fired. In several instances, Gruden used a homophobic slur to refer to Goodell and offensive language to describe some N.F.L. owners, coaches and journalists who cover the league.
Raiders owner Mark Davis issued a statement after the Smith email surfaced. He called the content of the email "disturbing" and "not what the Raiders stand for." I assume he'll have another statement ready for these, which only make things worse.
We'll see if the new information leads to any kind of punishment for Gruden, who is in the fourth year of a 10-year, $100 million contract.