Electronic Arts has removed Jon Gruden, former Las Vegas Raiders head coach, from Madden NFL 22 after he was accused of using racist, homophobic and misogynistic language via emails. After the revelations, Gruden was forced to resign as Raiders coach.
EA Sports has committed to continuing a culture that values inclusion and equity. EA posted a statement to Madden NFL's Twitter account. We are taking steps to get Jon Gruden out of Madden NFL 22. In the next few weeks, we will replace Jon Gruden with a generic similarity via a title update.
EA has not been the only company to make changes to its football series to respond to real-world events. After the franchise announced that it was dropping the Washington Redskins brand, EA changed all references in Madden NFL 21 to 2020. After being convicted in 2013 of first-degree murder, Aaron Hernandez, a former tight end for the New England Patriots was expelled from NCAA Football 14 as well as Madden NFL 25, after he was found guilty. Ray Rice, a former running back for the Baltimore Ravens, was also removed from Madden NFL 15. He was filmed hitting his wife in a video.
Grudens emails were among 650,000 that were examined as part of an NFL investigation into workplace misconduct at Washington Football Team.
