Homophobia, racism, and misogyny can all be the reason for ending someone’s career. Jon Gruden, the head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders, took that behavior to a whole new level in recently leaked emails, where he directed homophobic language at Commissioner Roger Goodell and called others inappropriate slurs and names. His behavior over the past several years truly became a career-ender as the NFL and the Raiders team would not settle for a coach with these morals.
New York Times tells readers, “Taken together, the emails provide an unvarnished look into the clubby culture of one N.F.L. circle of peers, where white male decision makers felt comfortable sharing pornographic images, deriding the league policies, and jocularly sharing homophobic language.”
The emails uncovered date from 2010 to as recently as 2018. The majority were sent to Bruce Allen, the former coach of the Washington Football Team. Between the two of them, they discussed it all. From calling former St. Louis Rams defensive end, Michael Sam, a “queer,” to telling Allen that the Players’ Union President, DeMaurice Smith, had “lips the size of michellin tires,” Gruden said all kinds of offensive things.
Yahoo Sports called Gruden, who told them, “The truth will come out. It’s certainly cryptic.” And that truth certainly did come out. Not only did Jon Gruden exhibit entirely inappropriate racist, sexist, and homophobic behavior, but he also exchanged explicit photos with Bruce Allen. Those photos included different women wearing only bikini bottoms, two of them being Washington team cheerleaders.
The whole scandal was revealed during the NFL’s investigation into workplace misconduct within the Washington Football Team. “The league was informed of the existence of emails that raised issues beyond the scope of that investigation,” says NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy on CNN. Senior league executives reviewed the content of more than 650,000 emails. The NFL sent pertinent emails to the Raiders for review.
As the investigation continues, Congress has gotten involved. They have suspicions on how the NFL will handle this, and how they have handled past events. According to ESPN, Congress is “very much interested in learning more about exactly why the NFL did what they did and the way they did it.”
Since the emails were leaked, Jon Gruden resigned and has been, more or less, hidden in the shadows. As of yet, no other actions have been taken. Gruden and Allen’s emails are horrendous, but unfortunately, both coaches are just a small few who have actually received consequences. NBC says that in a letter to the NFL commissioner, representatives fear that Gruden’s emails represent the “tip of the iceberg.”
