Raiders Head Coach Jon Gruden Resigns After Racist, Misogynistic and Homophobic Emails Exposed

Photo Credit @NFL Twitter

Just hours after The New York Times released a scathing report Monday night highlighting a history of racist, homophobic and misogynistic emails sent by Las Vegas Raiders head coach, Jon Gruden, to NFL officials over a seven-year period prior to his hire, ESPN is reporting that the once highly sought coach is out of a job.

Shortly after ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that he was told by sources that” Raiders owner Mark Davis arrived at the team's facility earlier Monday evening and went to find Gruden.”

"Earlier this evening, The New York Times uncovered a trail of emails dating back seven years, in which Jon Gruden had a clean sweep of offending NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, women, gays, minorities, all sorts of people."

Jon Gruden’s emails are further & final proof for the necessity of minority voices in positions of power.

In 2011, Gruden was a homophobic racially insensitive pervert. He was also the face of #MNF on ESPN, speaking to an audience of 13.3 million people weekly. pic.twitter.com/9rpZTVBPBj

— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) October 12, 2021

Gruden followed up shortly with a statement of his own 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.”

— @AdamSchefter with an update on Jon Gruden pic.twitter.com/qqsvptqBCE

— ESPN (@espn) October 12, 2021

Davis himself confirmed both the meeting and the reported conclusion by Schefter, releasing the following statement:

"I have accepted Jon Gruden's resignation as Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders."

pic.twitter.com/pxurcxX67v

— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) October 12, 2021 

It was the final stop on a rollercoaster of a week for the 58-year-old, who was in his second stint with the Raiders as head coach.

Friday after reporting by the Wall Street Journal revealed Gruden had used a racial stereotype to refer to NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith in 2011 in an email to then Washington Redskins general manager Bruce Allen, he quickly apologized.

Gruden, who said, “Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin [sic] tires,” in the email, told the WSJ he was “really sorry" and that he refers to liars as "rubber lips." 

I don’t think he’s dumb,” Gruden told the Journal. “I don’t think he’s a liar. I don’t have a racial bone in my body, and I’ve proven that for 58 years.

It seemed the controversy might die out with the Raiders staying mum on the subject and Gruden and others trying to play off the incident as a one-time mistake years before he was head coach, but Monday’s report spurred immediate action from the team which publicly prides itself on a commitment to diversity and anti-racist principles.

Gruden, who led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl win in 2003 before eventually moving on to ESPN where he worked as a color analyst during the period when he composed most of the offensive emails before being hired to coach the Raiders in 2018, finishes his tenure with a 22-31 record.

Rich Bisaccia will serve as the interim head coach of the team, effective immediately

Officer Who Shot and Paralyzed David Blake Will Not Face Federal Charges

Photo Courtesy: Wisconsin Department of Justice

Rusten Sheskey

Over a year after a white police officer shot 30-year-old Jacob Blake, who is Black, in the back seven times during a domestic disturbance in Kenosha, Wisconsin, setting off several nights of sometimes violent protests in August 2020 — federal prosecutors announced today that they will not file federal civil rights charges against the officer.

According to a statement released by the Justice Department this conclusion was reached after a team of experienced federal prosecutors from the Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office conducted a detailed and lengthy analysis of numerous materials obtained by state investigators and the FBI.

#JacobBlake released this powerful video message from his hospital bed today, reminding everyone just how precious life is. #JusticeForJacobBlake pic.twitter.com/87CYlgPDBj

— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) September 6, 2020

The team determined that insufficient evidence exists to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the KPD officer, Rusten Sheskey, willfully violated the federal criminal civil rights statutes after examining the evidence which included police reports, law enforcement accounts, witness statements, affidavits of witnesses, dispatch logs, physical evidence reports, photographs and videos of some portions of the incident.

“Accordingly, the review of this incident has been closed without a federal prosecution,” concluded the Justice Department statement.

The decision followed one made earlier this year by state officials not to charge Sheske citing video of Blake — who is paralyzed from the incident and had his children nearby in the back of his vehicle when he was shot — wielding a knife before the incident.

Ex-NBA Players Arrested in $4 Million Scheme to Defraud League's Healthcare Plan

Eighteen former NBA players, along with one of their spouses, were charged Thursday with defrauding the league's health and welfare benefit plan with a scheme that resulted in around $2 million in losses for the league on $4 million worth of fraudulent claims.

According to federal prosecutors, Terrence Williams, who was drafted No. 11 by the then-New Jersey Nets in 2009 and played for the Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings and Boston Celtics, in a journeyman career orchestrated the scheme.

He recruited other plan participants to defraud it by offering to provide them with false invoices to support their fraudulent claims, which those defendants then submitted for reimbursement. In return for his services, many of the defendants are alleged to have paid William's kickbacks totaling approximately $230,000.

Along with Williams; Alan Anderson, Anthony Allen, Shannon Brown, William Bynum, Ronald Glen "Big Baby" Davis, Christopher Douglas-Roberts, Melvin Ely, Jamario Moon, Darius Miles, Milton Palacio, Ruben Patterson, Eddie Robinson, Gregory Smith, Sebastian Telfair, Charles Watson Jr., Antoine Wright, and Anthony Wroten and Allen's wife, Desiree Allen, were indicted.

"The defendants' playbook involved fraud and deception," U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss told a news conference after FBI agents across the country arrested 16 of the defendants. 

All of the defendants are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Williams is also charged with one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison. 

Read the entire indictment here.

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