Antonio Brown was ahead of his time. While he was crazy for all the things he has done in 2018 and 2019, he was right about one thing: Jon Gruden is a racist.
Gruden is officially out of the league after his resignation as the head coach of the Raiders in the wake of an email scandal revealing conversations he held with former Washington Football Team executive Bruce Allen that included racist, homophobic, and misogynistic language dating back to 2010.
This was a rapid downfall for Gruden, who resigned in the 5th game of his 4th season on his 10-year, $100M contract he signed with the Raiders in 2018. It started when the Wall Street Journal reported that Gruden used a racist term to describe NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith in a 2011 email to Allen.
This email surfaced hours before the player representatives for the 32 teams voted to give Smith a 5th term as the player union’s leader, this time without a general election.
It was discovered during a review of workplace misconduct at the Washington Football Team. During the past few months, Roger Goodell told league executives to look at more than 650,000 emails, including the one that included Gruden’s comment.
Brian McCarthy, a league spokesman, said of the statement: “The email from Jon Gruden denigrating DeMaurice Smith is appalling, abhorrent and wholly contrary to the N.F.L.’s values.”
In a statement, Smith spoke of Gruden’s comments being characteristic of the challenges that Black Americans face.
“You know people are sometimes saying things behind your back that are racist just like you see people talk and write about you using thinly coded and racist language,” said Smith. “Racism like this comes from the fact that I’m at the same table as they are and they don’t think someone who looks like me belongs.”
Raiders owner Mark Davis called Gruden’s email “disturbing and not what the Raiders stand for.”
Gruden said that he did not recall the email, but acknowledged that back in 2011, he was angered that labor talks between the league and the union stalled out, leading to the lockout.
“I probably looked at De as the villain,” said Gruden. “And I was really upset. I was really upset that there was going to be a lockout. … I didn’t feel like we were getting the truth. I refer to guys when I see them lying—and I can tell they’re lying—I refer to them as ‘rubber lips.’ I went to far calling him the Michelin lips. I never had a blade of racism in me. I was just pissed and used a terrible way to insult a guy.”
The word “terrible” is an understatement to say how heinous and racist the insult was to Smith. Smith was coming off the biggest challenge to his leadership in his 12 years running the NFLPA. The union’s selection committee deadlocked, 7-7, on whether or not to give Smith a new contract and a 5th term. This was the same committee that voted unanimously to extend Smith’s tenure four years prior.
In those messages that Gruden sent to Allen, he also denounced the emergence of women as referees, the drafting of a gay player, and the tolerance of players protesting during the national anthem, such as Eric Reid, a player who demonstrated during the playing of the national anthem, whom Gruden said should be exiled from the league.
He also called Goodell a “faggot” and a “clueless anti-football pussy,” said that Goodell should not have pressured ex-Rams head coach Jeff Fisher to draft “queers,” a reference to Michael Sam, a gay player chosen by them in 2014, further criticized the commissioner and the league for trying to reduce concussions, used homophobic slurs to refer to Goodell, and offensive language to describe some NFL owners, coaches, and journalists.
Gruden’s behavior is not limited to this. He also exchanged emails with Allen and other men that included nude photos of women wearing only bikini bottoms, including one photo of two Washington team cheerleaders.
He also criticized former President Barack Obama during his re-election campaign in 2012, as well as then-Vice President and current President Joe Biden, whom Gruden called a “nervous clueless pussy.” He used similar words to describe Goodell and Smith.
In these exchanges between Gruden and Allen, Gruden used his personal email account while Allen wrote from his team account. In some cases, Allen initiated the conversations and Gruden jumped in, while, in other cases, they were exchanging vulgar comments.
Some of these emails between Gruden and Allen also included businessmen who they know as friends: Ed Droste, the co-founder of Hooters; Jim McVay, an executive who previously ran the Outback Bowl, annually held in Tampa; and Nick Reader, the founder of PDQ Restaurants, a Tampa-based fried chicken fast food franchise. These exchanges began as early as 2010, when Gruden was working as Monday Night Football on ESPN’s color analyst.
Gruden and Allen are longtime friends and colleagues. Allen was a senior executive with the Raiders from 1995 to 2003. During that time, Gruden had his first stint as the Raiders’ head coach, from 1998 to 2001. Gruden became the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002 and beat the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII that season. Two seasons later (2004), Allen became the general manager of the Bucs. They both left the Bucs after the 2008 season. While Gruden became ESPN’s color analyst for MNF, Allen became the general manager in Washington in 2010 and, later, the team’s president.
In the wake of all the emails, the Buccaneers removed Gruden from their Ring of Honor, releasing a team statement:
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have advocated for purposeful change in the areas of race relations, gender equality, diversity, and inclusion for many years. While we acknowledge Jon Gruden’s contributions on the field, his actions go against our core values as an organization. Therefore, he will no longer continue to be a member of the Buccaneers Ring of Honor.
The ironic part of this statement? The Bucs still have Antonio Brown on their roster.
This makes it awkward for them when one looks at their advocating of gender equality.
The same goes for Warren Sapp, who was arrested for domestic battery, charges later dropped, and another assault as well as soliciting a prostitute, with the latter arrest costing him his job at NFL Network. Yet he remains on their Ring of Honor.
Tony Dungy is not out of this either, given his homophobic past, and given his defense of Gruden.
Even when he was not with a team during the time he was a broadcaster with ESPN, Gruden was still influential in the league and highly coveted as a coach, as evidenced by his Super Bowl win with the Bucs. He was hired for his second stint as Raiders’ head coach in 2018, which included defensive lineman Carl Nassib, the first active NFL player to openly declare he is gay.
Gruden, whose father coached at Notre Dame and whose brother, Jay, was Washington’s head coach from 2014 to 2019, and Allen, the son of legendary NFL coach George Allen, are part of an exclusive network cycling between NFL teams, networks, and companies affiliated with the league.
The NFL congratulated Nassib after he became the first active NFL player to openly declare he is gay. Goodell said he was “proud of Carl for courageously sharing his truth today. Representation matters.”
Previously, Gruden and Allen appeared to have had few boundaries expressing homophobic and transphobic language. They previously mocked Caitlyn Jenner, who received an award from ESPN in 2015 after she transitioned.
They also criticized a congressional bill that aimed to force Washington to change their team name, which the team stopped using prior to the 2020 season.
Gruden used a vulgar term at Goodell and his staff even though the commissioner initially defended the team’s right to keep the name. In a 2017 email, the New York Times said that Gruden responded to a sexist meme of a female official by saying: “Nice job roger.” The Times also said that Gruden mocked an article in 2017 about players calling on Goodell to support efforts promoting racial equality and criminal justice reform.
These emails look at an unembellished look at the culture of one NFL circle of peers, where white male decision-makers feel comfortable sharing pornographic images, disregarding league policies, and sharing homophobic language.
This banter is not just insulting towards Black Americans, but it is insulting towards the league, who publicly denounces racism and sexism and says to be more inclusive amid criticism for not listening to the concerns of Black players, who make up about 70% of NFL rosters.
The league has, in the past, struggled to discipline personnel who committed acts of domestic violence and was condemned for failing to adequately address harassment of women, including NFL cheerleaders.
When Gruden accused Jeff Fisher of succumbing to the pressure of the NFL’s front offices to draft Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to enter an NFL Draft, Gruden referred to Sam as a homophobic slur in that email. Fisher replied to the allegations in a statement on Twitter:
Michael Sam was the SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year in 2013, and we selected him in the NFL Draft based upon his defensive production and pass rushing skill set on the field. As a head coach for over 20 years, we drafted or didn’t draft, players based on a variety of qualities. Their sexual orientation would never—and should never—play a part in the decision-making process. I continue to support Michael, and his decision to come out as the first draft-eligible openly gay player in the league. It took courage to serve as a role model for those competitive football players who may also happen to be gay. Lastly, the NFL never encouraged or discouraged me regarding the selection of a potential prospect.
Sam drew interest from many NFL teams ahead of the draft in 2014, and spent time with both the Rams and the Dallas Cowboys during his NFL career.
The fact that Gruden referred to Sam as a homophobic slur yet coached a Raiders team with Carl Nassib, the league’s first active player to come out as gay and the first openly gay player to take the field, on the roster, is ironic. It’s even more ironic that Gruden praised Nassib for his decision this past June, during Pride Month.
With the Raiders, Mark Davis didn’t seem very happy on the events leading to Gruden’s resignation. When asked of his departure, Davis responded, “Ask the NFL. They have all the answers.”
This is an indication of frustration over the perception that the NFL pressured Davis to fire Gruden or to force Gruden quit under the threat of termination.
Yes, after Davis received some of the emails, he didn’t fire Gruden or pressure him to resign. It was after someone leaked some of the emails to the media that this situation became unbearable.
It’s a fair question to wonder if Davis would have kept Gruden if those emails weren’t leaked. Given how loyal Davis was to Gruden even when Gruden was 19-29 through three full seasons and wasn’t even close to being on the hot seat, that’s not a reach.
Of course, Gruden’s words are racist, hurtful, inappropriate, and out of line. If you are a former player, this hits very differently.
While we all make our opinions left and right, the players are the ones looking up to leadership figures such as Gruden. In this case, they did that, only to find out about the emails containing those comments which seriously taint his character, especially during a time where race relations have been a paramount focus for the NFL.
That’s exactly the case with Randy Moss and Tedy Bruschi, who are both infuriated with Gruden and how the league is handling this situation.
“This may have been 10 years ago, okay, but Jon Gruden’s response slash excuse was recent. See, I don’t think he understands what he did in that email,” Bruschi said on Sunday NFL Countdown. “When you insult a Black man’s intelligence by demeaning his appearance, that is racist. That is the only way I know it. That is the only way I was raised. That is racist.”
The Raiders losing at home 20-9 to the Bears is not a coincidence. The fact that the Raiders traded Khalil Mack away in the first year of Gruden’s second stint, then lost to the Bears, who have Mack on the roster, in Gruden’s final game as a head coach, is poetic justice.
Also take into account what Bruschi said: “I can play for you, but I’d rather not. If I have to do it I will, and it’s just because I have other people that I have to provide for.”
Adam Schefter of ESPN reported on the show that after Gruden’s “apology,” one Black player hugged him and told him that he has his support. Moss said that such a response is wrong:
You heard Adam Schefter talking about the one Black player, well, you don’t want to say his name, because he’s totally wrong in this in not understanding the magnitude of something like this. We’re going into the 21st century, okay? And instead of us moving forward, we’re moving backwards. And I don’t, I really don’t know what percentage of the National Football League is Black, but I know it’s over 50 percent—60, 70 percent, okay? And I know we generate a whole lot of money for this National Football League. And for you to hear Adam Schefter talking about some discipline or some distance from [Raiders owner Mark] Davis, the clock is ticking. We are watching to see what the National Football League is going to do about this, because I got to say it: We’re trying to move forward going into the 21st century with the National Football League. And you’re talking about the kids from 10, 15 years from now that’s going to come into the league. What is this showing them? If they’re coming in to try to keep this National Football League going, generating all this money, and being this good entertainment for our country. Where are we headed?
Moss said that the “brotherhood” of the NFL allowed him to meet countless people of different background that he never would have gotten to know otherwise. He adds that Gruden’s comments show a disregard for the concept. He adds that the Raiders locker room must be “totally divided” after Gruden’s comments, while Bruschi added that the players will be focusing on themselves.
Even former Jets and Bills head coach Rex Ryan had to jump into this, saying that Gruden’s comments were “100 percent unacceptable,” and former NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck added on to it by calling it “disgusting, it’s embarrassing.”
Gruden is the face of an organization that relocated to Las Vegas and was hoping that he could turn things around after so much failure in Oakland. How does the information being made public affect the locker room? How does it reflect on the organization? How are Black players not supposed to feel some sort of way about it?
The responses made by Moss and Bruschi are emotional responses from former players from a different generation of the NFL. And it’s not like they have heard worse things or experienced more troubling situations a decade or two ago when it was more commonplace to turn a blind eye on such actions.
Additionally, Julian Edelman had a lot to say about Gruden’s comments. “You know what? We’re trying to gain inclusivity in our league,” said Edelman on “Inside the NFL” on Paramount+.
“We’ve been trying it with every form of background, sexuality, women—we have women coaches now, referees. And when you have a leader and one of the biggest faces in our league have stuff like this come out, I mean, was I surprised [that Gruden lost his job]? ... I wasn’t surprised because 70 percent of our team, our guys, are Black men. And when you have your head coach, the guy who’s supposed to set the example—and I’m not a cancel guy. I’m not a cancel culture guy. I’m all about the conversation. But if it keeps on coming out that there’s more and more and more, I think it’s just not acceptable.”
When DeSean Jackson posted an anti-Semitic quote on Instagram last year, Edelman, who is Jewish, reached out to Jackson to talk about being constructive. He did the same when former Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat center Meyers Leonard used anti-Semitic language during a Twitch stream.
“I don’t know Jon Gruden personally, I’ve never met him,” added Edelman. “But it’s a different situation here to think that what he said, he didn’t know that what he was saying would offend someone.”
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Chargers head coach Brandon Staley, who is developing a reputation as one of football’s most quotable coaches, was asked about Gruden’s resignation from the Raiders. And his response on why Gruden’s language is hurtful is on point.
Staley understands this situation in a way that a lot of Gruden’s former associates do not. Whether it be Derek Carr defending Gruden’s character or his former broadcasting colleagues doing the same, thinking that Gruden is the one wrongfully accused here is laughable. Staley put the focus on healing the groups affected by Gruden’s comments.
As Keyshawn Johnson, one of Gruden’s former players, said, Gruden has always been a fraud. And the worst kind of fraud. It’s not just with his arrival to Vegas, trading away Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper, diminishing Carr’s confidence, then destroying the team with his own hatred when they got good, but everything shows that he is a fraud.
He lied when he “praised” Carl Nassib when he said “I learned a long time ago what makes a man different is what makes him great.”
But it’s not just with Nassib. What about when he was “surprised” when a team didn’t sign Colin Kaepernick, who peacefully kneeled during the national anthem to protest social injustice and police brutality, in 2018, but approved the Raiders’ decision to sign Richie Incognito, who has a past history of bullying, racism, and homophobia?
Gruden has previously praised his players on Monday Night Football for taking a stand, while privately advocating for them to be punished. He also said that having women as referees is “great for the game,” but emailed Allen to complain about them. He also pretended that he had COVID during training camp because he said it was a lesson in “readiness.”
When he said “I never meant to hurt anyone” in his statement of resignation, he is also lying.
Those who mean to hurt people with hatred are those who have it in their brand, because they have an audience of angry pigs willing to part with their money in service of someone “edgy.” They know that they are hurting people, but they don’t want others to know that is what they are doing.
When Gruden says that he “loves the Raiders,” what exactly does he mean by that? Does he love the organization? Or does he love the team history? Or does he love the fact that he reunited with Mark Davis?
It’s for certain that he doesn’t love his players, because he has a two-face nature based on how he speaks publicly and what he says privately.
When the players were asked about Gruden before and after the loss to the Bears, the damage was already done. He didn’t resign because he “didn’t want to be a distraction,” he was already a distraction even when he resigned.
This is the action of someone who knew he became unemployable in the NFL because of his prejudice.
He damaged the Raiders, their reputation, and the players under his watch who felt vilified when they found out they were being coached by a backstabbing snake.
The only good thing for the Raiders is that Gruden will never have a job in the NFL again.
The more bigots out of leadership positions, the better.
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