Jon Gruden has resigned from the Las Vegas Raiders following a series of emails revealing insensitive language. Gruden’s emails came to light after the league conducted an investigation into the Washington Football Team, emails the NFL has no plans to release, according The Athletic.
The NFL believes nothing stemming from those emails needs to be reported to clubs or league leadership. This goes against the NFLPA’s request for the league to release the remainder of the 650,000 emails reviewed regarding misconduct with the Washington Football Team. The NFL told USA Today they have no plans to release the emails as a matter of confidentiality. The league also doesn’t plan to reopen the investigation into the Washington Football Team, per ESPN. Lawyers Lisa Banks and Debra Katz, who are representing former employees of Washington, also asked the league to release the emails.
The NFL put Gruden under investigation for an email sent back in 2011 in which he used a racial trope to criticize NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith. Gruden admitted Friday that he also used profane language to describe NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and more emails leaked which he “casually and frequently unleashed misogynistic and homophobic language” during his tenure as a “Monday Night Football” color commentator for ESPN from 2010 to 2018, when he returned to coach the NFL with the Raiders. In those emails, Gruden denounced female referees and used slurs on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. One email leaked included Gruden saying a former NFL safety, who knelt during the national anthem, should be fired.
The emails were sent to then-Washington team president Bruce Allen when Gruden was at ESPN. Allen worked with Gruden when Gruden was the head coach of the Oakland Raiders (first stint) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
