Adam Schefter confirms that Jon Gruden has resigned from the Raiders after reading through emails. (0:31).
After a decade of emails that contained racist, misogynistic, and anti-gay language, Jon Gruden was fired as the Las Vegas Raiders' head coach.
Gruden stated Monday night that he loves the Raiders but does not want to distract from them. "Thank you to all of Raider Nation's players, coaches, staff and fans. Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt anyone.
Mark Davis, Raiders owner, released a brief statement confirming that he had accepted Gruden's resignation. ESPN's Suzy Kolber reported that Gruden's assistant coach Rich Bisaccia will replace Gruden as interim head coach.
The New York Times had reported that Gruden used anti-gay and misogynistic language in several emails over a period of seven years. This report was made days after 10-year-old emails that Gruden had sent were discovered. They contained a racist comment regarding DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association, and a vulgar attack on Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner.
According to The Times Gruden was said to have sent emails to Bruce Allen (then the president of Washington Football Team), and other people during a period of seven years that ended in 2018.
Gruden wrote Allen, saying that Goodell shouldn't have forced Jeff Fisher, then-Rams coach, to draft "queers". This refers to Michael Sam, an ex-defensive end, who was drafted by The Times in 2014. The Times reported that Gruden also used anti-gay slurs in several instances, while referring to Goodell. Gruden also used offensive language when describing some owners, coaches, and media members who covered the league.
Gruden was an ESPN analyst on Monday Night Football when he sent these emails.
ESPN released a statement saying that the comments were "clearly repugnant in any circumstance."
Gruden's emails included harsh language to some team owners who were involved in the labor dispute of 2011 that resulted in a lockout.
Friday's Wall Street Journal report said Gruden had sent an email to Allen claiming Smith had "lips as big as michellin tires". The newspaper stated that it had reviewed the email.
Gruden said to ESPN that he used "rubber lips" to refer to "a guy I catch lying... he can’t spit it all out."
"I'm ashamed I insulted De Smith. Gruden stated to ESPN that he never thought of racial thoughts when he used it. "I'm ashamed by the things out there. It was not my intention for it to sound so bad."
According to Brian McCarthy, a spokesperson for the NFL, the emails were discovered during an investigation by the NFL into Washington's workplace misconduct. "The league was informed about the existence of emails which raised issues beyond that scope of that investigation," Brian McCarthy said. More than 650,000 emails were reviewed by senior league executives, including one that was reported to have been written by Gruden to Allen. For review, the NFL sent relevant emails to Raiders.
Gruden, 58 years old, was appointed Raiders' head coach in 2018. He signed a 10-year contract for $100 million.
After a 3-2 start, the Raiders went 22-31 under Gruden, who was originally the Raiders' coach from 1998 to 2001. He was traded to Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he beat his old team in Super Bowl XXXVII. Since 2016, the Raiders have only had one playoff appearance and one winning season.
