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Jon Gruden, who resigned as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders last month, is now suing the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell after Gruden’s private emails were leaked, revealing messages that had racist, anti-gay and misogynistic language from a 7-year period starting in 2011.
According to ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez, Gruden’s attorney, Adam Hosmer-Henner, issued the following statement on Friday:
“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. 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.”
Gutierrez reported that NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Gruden’s allegations are “entirely meritless” and that the league will “vigorously defend against these claims.”
Gruden was in his 2nd stint as the Raiders’ head coach. He previously led the team from 1998-2001, before returning to the post in 2018. Some of his leaked emails had been sent while he was working at ESPN.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero shared the introduction of Gruden’s lawsuit on Twitter:
Here’s the introduction to Jon Gruden’s lawsuit against the NFL and Roger Goodell, alleging the league leaked Gruden’s emails to reporters. (The NFL has denied this.)
“Defendants … did intend to hurt Gruden and they did so with unchecked hypocrisy and arrogance.” pic.twitter.com/D7WUNwuxRS
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 12, 2021
Jake Rill contributes to news coverage for Saturday Down South. He has covered the SEC since 2016.
