Last night, Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden announced his resignation after several troubling email threads containing misogynistic, homophobic and racist language came to light.
While the hope is this kind of offensive speech is limited to a very small group of NFL leaders, it may be more widespread than originally thought.
Following Gruden’s resignation on Monday night, one former league executive revealed that this kind of behavior is all too common amongst his old colleagues.
“A lot of NFL owners and executives calling their IT guys tonight..,” former Green Bay Packers executive Andrew Brandt wrote on Twitter.
A lot of NFL owners and executives calling their IT guys tonight..
— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) October 12, 2021
The reveal of Gruden’s previous misconduct began last week when 10-year-old emails, including a racist comment towards NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith, surfaced. On Monday, the New York Times expanded on those reports — uncovering multiple emails from a seven-year span (2011-18) that used openly misogynistic and anti-gay language.
According to this report from The Times, many of these emails were exchanged with Bruce Allen, the then-president of the Washington Football Team.
“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. … 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.”
These emails were reportedly revealed during the NFL’s investigation into workplace misconduct within the Washington Football Team organization. Senior league officials reviewed more than 650,000 emails sent over the past decade and sent pertinent messages to the Raiders organization for review. Gruden, who was then an employee at ESPN, was sending emails from his personal account to Allen’s team account.
The 58-year-old now-former coach, who was in the fourth season of his 10-year, $100 million contract with the Raiders, now leaves his team with a 3-2 record on the year.
Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia has been named the interim head coach heading into Week 6.
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