Las Vegas Raiders Head Coach Jon Gruden on Monday resigned following the release of multiple emails where Gruden used highly-offensive language, according to a report from ESPN.
Gruden, who in the fourth season of a 10-year contract worth $100 million, repeatedly made derogatory statements towards black and gay players and women associated with the National Football League (NFL), The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times described.
Gruden spoke with Raiders owner Mark Davis, who previously convinced Gruden to return to coaching, on Monday night to inform Davis of his decision to step down from the team.
Initially, Gruden’s comments were reported to only be directed toward NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith, a black player who Gruden said had “lips the size of Michelin tires.”
“I’m ashamed I insulted De Smith. I never had a racial thought when I used it,” Gruden told ESPN after the remarks became public. “I’m embarrassed by what’s out there. I certainly never meant for it to sound that bad.”
Separate emails were uncovered when the NFL began investigating workplace misconduct with the Washington Football Team, leading the league to review approximately 650,000 communications. Gruden’s emails were sent to Bruce Allen, the former president of the Washington Football Team.
Additional reports from The Times demonstrated a broad pattern in remarks made by the former commentator and head coach.
In addition to sharing photos of women wearing only bikini bottoms, Gruden routinely used homophobic and misogynistic slurs when 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.”
Furthermore, the coach criticized former President Barack Obama and then-vice president Joe Biden during their reelection campaign in 2012.
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for The Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Coach John Gruden” by Travis AFB CC-NC-2.0
