Jon Gruden resigns as Las Vegas Raiders head coach over emails

[TMC]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/11/s...ruden-say.html

The Super Bowl-winning Gruden was a Monday Night Football analyst in 2011 when he sent an email that, as The Wall Street Journal revealed Friday, used a racist trope to describe NFL Players Association president DeMaurice Smith, who is Black. “Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires," Gruden wrote in the email. Gruden later apologized. On Monday evening, just as Monday Night Football was about to kick off, The New York Times reported that from 2011 to 2018, Gruden sent emails calling NFL commissioner Roger Goodell as a “f*****” and a “clueless anti football p****" and used the word "q*****" in response to Michael Sam being drafted as the first openly gay player in NFL history. Gruden also denounced the emergence of women as referees. The homophobic comments emerged months after Gruden expressed support for Raiders player Carl Nassib, who last month became the first openly gay player to play in a regular season NFL game. Gruden's emails were mostly sent to then-Washington Redskins general manager Bruce Allen, his close friend and former colleague. They were uncovered as part of a probe of 650,000 emails investigating allegations of workplace misconduct in the offices of the now-Washington Football Team. Gruden resigned in the fourth season of a $100 million, 10-year contract. He had a 22-31 record in his second stint as Raiders head coach. As The Athletic's Marcus Thompson III points out, Gruden betrayed the Raiders’ legacy of respect and inclusion. The Raiders hired the first Black head coach in NFL history, the second Latino head coach and the first woman as CEO, as well as having the aforementioned first openly gay player to be part of the regular roster.

ALSO:

• ESPN has yet to respond to Jon Gruden's newly revealed emails: "Got to think a statement from ESPN is coming at some point in the second half. They’ve definitely glossed over the fact that this behavior was mostly during his tenure at ESPN," tweeted Awful Announcing. Before Gruden's resignation, ESPN did say in reaction to the DeMaurice comment: "The comments are clearly repugnant under any circumstance." Gruden worked on Monday Night Football from 2009 to 2017.
• NBC Sports' Mike Tirico and Tony Dungy criticized for defending Jon Gruden over his racist remark: During NBC's Football Night in America, Tirico, who worked with Gruden in the Monday Night Football booth, when he sent the racist email, and Dungy, who was replaced by Gruden as Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach after the 2002 season, defended Gruden. “I was with Jon at that time,” Tirico said. “Seven years as my partner on Monday Night Football. I probably know Jon better than anybody in the league on a personal level. He said it right, he was ashamed by the comments in the email. The comments in the email are wrong.” Dungy added: “He said that it wasn’t racial, he was making a comment about DeMaurice Smith, and he basically attacked his character. I will accept that and just say it was an immature way to do it. It wasn’t the right way to do it. But it was 10 years ago. And I’m not going to chalk everything up to racism. I think we accept his apology, move forward and move on.” Following Gruden's resignation, both Tirico and Dungy faced criticism on Twitter for being quick to defend Gruden. As former NFL player turned football blogger Stephen White put it: "There was literally no reason for Dungy nor Tirico to try to shield Gruden last night. That was a choice. And one that is rightfully gonna bite them both in the a**."

ESPN doesn't seem to care that Jon Gruden's bigoted emails were sent when he was the network's highest-paid on-air talent

"Gruden was the color guy for Monday Night Football when he sent all of those emails," says Drew Magary. "He sent many of them FROM his ESPN work address. He was ESPN’s highest paid on-air talent. His boothmate at ESPN, Mike Tirico, was himself no stranger to wanton lechery and mounted a hollow 'well I never saw him be racist' defense of Gruden on Sunday night that looks even more hollow right now. And what has been ESPN’s reaction to this news? See for yourself": “The comments are clearly repugnant under any circumstance," ESPN said in a statement. "That’s it," says Magary. "That weaka** statement represents the entirety of ESPN’s due diligence on Gruden, without a second thought, reducing DeMaurice Smith to a racial caricature, accusing Roger Goodell of forcing the Rams to draft 'q*****' like Michael Sam, calling Joe Biden a 'p****,' dumping on female refs and trading topless photos of WFT cheerleaders with the dude who ran that team." Magary adds: "This has been a pattern at ESPN for a good long time now. Nothing all that bad happens to a lot of their worst talent, because the people who employ that on-air talent enjoy similar, shall we say, ethical vices. Current network president Jimmy Pitaro is a man who’s gutted the production side of the operation while also infamously enforcing an internal policy prohibiting ESPN stars from venturing too far afield when commenting on issues outside of sports. But really, Pitaro’s ascent is symptomatic of the network’s perpetual coziness with the leagues they cover, the NFL in particular."

ALSO:

• ESPN NFL reporter Adam Schefter is now ensnared in the email controversy involving Jon Gruden: Most of Gruden's offensive emails were sent to then-Washington Redskins general manager Bruce Allen that were uncovered as part of an investigation into the team's toxic workplace culture According to the Los Angeles Times, the investigation unearthed an email Schefter sent Allen in 2011 asking him to read and weigh in on an unpublished story -- a journalistic no-no. “Please let me know if you see anything that should be added, changed, tweaked,” Schefter wrote Allen. “Thanks, Mr. Editor, for that and the trust. Plan to file this to ESPN about 6 am ….” ESPN released the following statement in response to the correspondence: “Without sharing all the specifics of the reporter’s process for a story from 10 years ago during the NFL lockout, we believe that nothing is more important to Adam and ESPN than providing fans the most accurate, fair and complete story.”
• Mike Tirico responds to Jon Gruden's ouster after defending him Sunday night: "The comments made Sunday Football Night in America were specific to Jon Gruden's email related to DeMaurice Smith and addressed my personal experiences with Jon regarding any racist actions or behavior," the NBC Sports broadcaster said in a statement. "As I sad on air, his 'comments are wrong.' The content and nature of the subsequently released emails is deplorable, disappointing and express sentiments that have no place in our society."
• Jon Gruden *is* the NFL: "The biggest problem with Gruden’s remarks, as the league should be concerned, is not that the ex-coach does not represent the NFL’s ideals," says Alex Kirshner. "It should be that with every breath he draws, Gruden exhibits those ideals almost by default. Gruden is a more comprehensive encapsulation of an NFL poster boy than almost anyone else on Earth. That a man in his position would crumble in this fashion says more about the league itself than Goodell could ever admit."