SPORTS
Raiders’ Gruden Resigns
Coach sent racist, sexist, anti-LGBTQ emails
Raiders head coach Jon Gruden stepped down after it was revealed he delivered emails laced with
homophobia, racism, and sexism.
BY MATT TRACY
Las Vegas Raiders head
coach Jon Gruden resigned
on National Coming
Out Day immediately
following additional revelations
about racist, misogynistic, and
homophobic remarks he made in
emails over the course of several
years while he was an analyst on
ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.”
Gruden, already facing widespread
condemnation for his racist emails
about NFL Players Association executive
director DeMaurice Smith, directed
homophobic slurs at NFL commissioner
Roger Goodell and further
ripped the commissioner for pressuring
then-St. Louis Rams head coach
Jeff Fisher to draft “queers,” referring
to out gay former player Michael
Sam, according to emails obtained
by the New York Times.
Gruden’s emails also criticized
the rise of women referees in the
NFL and called for the fi ring of an
NFL player, Eric Reid, for kneeling
during the national anthem to protest
racial injustice. Among other
unhinged comments, Gruden in
2012 called Joe Biden — then vice
president — a “nervous clueless
pussy” and mocked Caitlyn Jenner,
the New York Times reported. The
specifi c language he used in that
email was not immediately clear.
“I have resigned as Head Coach
USA TODAY SPORTS/CHARLES LECLAIRE
of the Las Vegas Raiders,” Gruden
said in a written statement following
his resignation on October 11.
“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.”
The comments were revealed at
at a time when Raiders defensive
end Carl Nassib is in the midst of
an historic season as the fi rst out
gay player to play an NFL game in
the regular season. Sam was the
fi rst out gay player to be drafted in
the NFL, though he never made it to
the regular season.
Gruden’s abrupt resignation
was announced live on the Colts/
Ravens “Monday Night Football”
broadcast when the NFL ran multiple
LGBTQ-inclusive advertisements,
including one featuring an
NFL logo wrapped in the colors of
the Trans Flag and Rainbow Flag.
RK Russell, a former NFL player
who came out as bisexual after
playing for the Cowboys, Buccaneers,
and Bills, reacted on Twitter
hours after Gruden’s resignation.
“My thoughts and prayers go
out to Carl Nassib, the countless
closeted NFL players, female staff,
Black people, and people of color
who have and continue to work in
environments where they feel unwelcome
and unwanted,” Russell
wrote.
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