With Jon Gruden out as Raiders head coach, it’s time to try and understand what exactly happened and why Gruden’s career should be over.
It was revealed on Monday that Gruden had sent homophobic, misogynystic, and racist emails during his time as an ESPN analyst, before being hired to coach the Las Vegas Raiders in 2018.
One email to Bruce Allen shamed the then-President of the Washington Football Team, claiming that he had pressured Jeff Fisher, the coach of the St. Louis Rams at the time into drafting “queers” in response to the Rams selecting defensive end Michael Sam, an openly gay player from Missouri. The New York Times also reported that this was not the only time Gruden had used an anti-gay slur, and that he had done so when referring to commissioner Roger Goodell and some NFL owners.
Another email included a racist comment about NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith, saying that he had “lips the size of Michelin tires.” Of course, as predicted with people in sports who get caught being racist, Gruden tried to defend his words, saying that he used the term “rubber lips” as a means to call out people he caught lying.
“I never had a racial thought when I used it,” Gruden said to ESPN. “I’m embarrassed by what’s out there. I certainly never meant for it to sound that bad.”
Sure you didn’t, Jon.
Gruden resigned on Monday, issuing a fake apology in a statement to try and cover his behind. Rich Bisaccia will take his place in an interim capacity.
This only goes to show that our fight against bigotry is far from over. This has happened too many times with people in the sports world; people who don’t think before they speak and only apologize when it’s already too late.
The most upsetting thing about this is that there are people defending Gruden, saying that he shouldn’t be in trouble because he wasn’t associated with the NFL at the time. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
It should, if anything, serve as a lesson that when you put stuff out there like that, it’s always with you, and it can come back to haunt you at any moment. It doesn’t matter that he wasn’t with the Raiders at the time. What matters is that it’s out there, and once it is, it makes you look bad once it’s discovered. The point is, he should’ve just thought before he sent those emails, and not sent them at all.
This isn’t a “cancel culture” problem. This is a problem with Gruden himself. He can’t run from it now. Those emails show exactly who he is as a person.
So what happens next, you ask? Well, chances of him ever getting a high paying job in the NFL, or anywhere for that matter are basically shot, as they should be. As mentioned previously, stuff like this makes you look bad, and when employers see that, they know by then that they shouldn’t hire you.
We know what kind of person Gruden is now, and that’s all the evidence we need to know that his career should be over.
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