Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden is resigning, a person with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports on Monday, after repeatedly using homophobic and misogynistic language in emails sent over a period of seven years and obtained by the NFL as part of an unrelated investigation, according to a report in The New York Times on Monday.
The person requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
NFL Network was first to report that Gruden had informed his staff he was resigning.
The Times reported that Gruden used a homophobic slur to describe NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, denigrated the drafting of a gay player, mocked transgender woman Caitlyn Jenner and suggested that a player who kneeled during the national anthem should be fired, among other things.
The revelations come three days after The Wall Street Journal reported that, in one 2011 email, Gruden used a racist trope when describing NFL Players' Association executive director DeMaurice Smith.
"Dumboriss [sic] Smith has lips the size of michellin [sic] tires," he wrote, according to the newspaper.
Gruden apologized for that specific email in a statement to The Wall Street Journal, saying that "I don’t have a racial bone in my body."
Raiders owner Mark Davis said in a statement that he found it "disturbing" and "not what the Raiders stand for."
"We are addressing the matter with Coach Gruden and will have no further comment at this time," Davis said in the statement.
A team spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment Monday night on the emails referenced by The New York Times.
Gruden's emails were sent between 2011 and 2018, when he was working as a broadcaster for ESPN. They were obtained as part of an unrelated investigation into the culture of the Washington Football Team – an investigation which resulted in a fine, but for which no written report has been released.
According to The New York Times, the emails were sent from Gruden's personal email account to the team account of then-WFT executive Bruce Allen. The two men had previously worked together in Oakland and Tampa Bay.
NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy confirmed to USA TODAY Sports on Friday that the emails had been uncovered as part of the Washington Football Team investigation and flagged to the league. He said the NFL had shared the emails sent by Gruden with the Raiders.
In response to a request for comment Monday, McCarthy referred USA TODAY Sports to his previous statement on the Smith email, which the league described as "appalling, abhorrent and wholly contrary to the NFL’s values."
Contact Tom Schad at [email protected] or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.
