NFL coach resigns after homophobic, racist and misogynistic emails come to light

Jon Gruden has resigned as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders after details emerged of emails in which he made homophobic, racist and misogynistic language.

“I have resigned as Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders,” he wrote on Twitter in a statement issued by the team. “I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone.”

Mark Davis, the owner of the Raiders, has accepted his resignation. The team’s special coordinator, Rich Bisaccia, has since been elevated to interim head coach.

On Monday (11 October), the New York Times reported that Gruden had frequently sent emails with homophobic, racist and misogynistic rhetoric over several years to Bruce Allen, the former president of the Washington Football Team, and others, while he worked as a colour analyst for ESPN.

Although he wasn’t employed by the Raiders at the time, Gruden was revered in the industry thanks to his Super Bowl win in 2003 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In the emails, Gruden described the league’s commissioner Roger Goodell as a “faggot” and a “clueless anti football pussy” and said he shouldn’t have influenced then-coach of the Rams, Jeff Fisher, to “draft queers” – referencing Michael Sam, a gay player chosen by the team in 2014.

The Times said he denounced women being employed as on-field officials, as well as tolerance for national anthem protestors.

Gruden also hit out at President Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden during the former’s re-election campaign in 2012. He called the latter a “nervous clueless pussy” and reportedly used similar language to describe Goodell and DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players Association.

Gruden was already being investigated by the league for using racist terms to describe Smith in an email he wrote to Allen in 2011.

Former NFL veteran and GAY TIMES cover star Ryan Russell said Gruden’s resignation isn’t “enough” and called for the league to be more inclusive.

“I think the next step that the league needs to take is being proactive in making sure that the coaches that they hire, the players that they draft, the organization that they form are being inclusive, are being supportive and are held to that standard not when things come to light but all the time,” he said on Tuesday.

“That’s accountability, doing the right thing when no one is looking. The integrity level is what is being challenged here.”

“I have resigned as Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone.”

Jon Gruden

— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) October 12, 2021

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