Jon Gruden Sues NFL, Roger Goodell

The Jon Gruden saga had faded away in the news following the October resignation of the former Las Vegas Raiders head coach. Gruden resigned from his position after the discovery of emails he sent over a period of seven years while he was working as an analyst for ESPN on “Monday Night Football.”

The emails were discovered during the NFL’s investigation of workplace misconduct in the Washington Football Team’s organization and contained racially insensitive language, as well as the use of a gay slur.

Now, Gruden is suing the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell, accusing them of leaking the emails with the intention of forcing him out of his head coaching position with the Raiders.

“The complaint alleges that the defendants selectively leaked Gruden’s private correspondence to the Wall Street Journal and New York Times in order to harm Gruden’s reputation and force him out of his job,” Gruden’s attorney Adam Hosmer-Henner said. “There is no explanation or justification for why Gruden’s emails were the only ones made public out of the 650,000 emails collected in the NFL’s investigation of the Washington Football Team or for why the emails were held for months before being released in the middle of the Raiders’ season.”

Statement below from Jon Gruden’s attorney, Adam Hosmer-Henner, who filed the complaint Thursday in Clark County, Nevada court. Gruden is seeking damages on seven claims, as well as punitive damages and attorneys’ fees. pic.twitter.com/FsRocrutd2

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 12, 2021

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy denied the allegations in a statement.

“The allegations are entirely meritless and the NFL will vigorously defend against these claims,” McCarthy said.

On October 8, The Wall Street Journal published a report detailing a 2011 email from Gruden to Bruce Allen, then the president of the Washington Redskins. In the email, Gruden used racially insensitive language to describe the executive director of the NFL Players Association, DeMaurice Smith.

“Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires,” Gruden wrote, according to the WSJ.

Gruden apologized for the email, but on October 11, The New York Times published a report that included additional emails from Gruden where he was found to have used a gay slur along with misogynistic language.

As reported by the Times, Gruden sent emails while he was working as an analyst for “Monday Night Football” to Allen and others regarding women referees in the NFL, homosexual players being drafted, and the topic of players protesting the national anthem.

Later in the

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