Raiders Head Coach Resigns After Alleged Emails Reveal Racist and Homophobic Language

Jon Gruden has stepped down as the head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders after past alleged emails of his written when he was an ESPN broadcaster were leaked.

In a public statement released Monday, Gruden announced his resignation, saying, “I have resigned as Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. 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."

Following Gruden’s message, Mark Davis, owner of the Raiders, accepted the resignation and Rich Bisaccia, the Raiders’ special teams coordinator, was promoted to interim head coach.

As first reported by The Washington Post last week and later confirmed by The New York Times, in 2011, Gruden allegedly wrote a racist email about DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players Association who is Black, before Smith was voted by the teams to serve a fifth term as the union’s leader.

The email was discovered during an investigation of workplace misconduct at the Washington Football Team that ended this summer.

“Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires,” Gruden allegedly wrote to Bruce Allen, who was then the president of the Washington Football Team.

In response to the alleged email, Smith discussed the racism that Black Americans face on a daily basis, writing last week, “This is not the first racist comment that I’ve heard and it probably will not be the last.”

As reported by The New York Times, in alleged emails sent during a seven-year period ending in early 2018, Gruden also “casually and frequently” used misogynistic and homophobic language to describe NFL officials and players.

Among a number of alleged comments, Gruden criticized the emergence of women as referees, called NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a “------” and a “clueless anti football -----,” and said that Goodell should not have pressured Jeff Fisher, the then-coach of the Rams, to draft “------,” a reference to Michael Sam, an openly gay player drafted by the team in 2014.

Additionally, Gruden allegedly said in an email that NFL player Eric Reid should be fired for demonstrating during the national anthem.

In an interview with The Athletic on Friday, Gruden said he did not remember his email about Smith, but concedes that he was angered by the union issues at the time.

“I probably looked at De as the villain,” Gruden said. “And I was really upset that there was going to be a lockout.”

He continued, “I went too far calling him the Michelin lips. I never had a blade of racism in me,” adding that he “used a terrible way to insult a guy.”

Gruden said he called Smith but had not heard back. As reported by TMZ on Monday, Smith acknowledged that Gruden had personally reached out to him, and says that they will "connect" sometime soon.