Jon Gruden’s lawsuit against the NFL continues, and the ex-Raiders coach expects another shot
Jon Gruden addressed the email scandal that cost him his job in October 2021.
Gruden, who’s suing the NFL, appeared at the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Tuesday.
“I’m ashamed about what has come about in these emails, and I’ll make no excuses for it,” he said. “It’s shameful. But, I am a good person. I believe that. I go to church. I’ve been married for 31 years. I’ve got three great boys. I still love football. I’ve made some mistakes. But I don’t think anybody in here hasn’t. And I just ask for forgiveness and, hopefully, I get another shot.”
NFL’s attempt to dismiss Gruden’s lawsuit is denied.
An Oct. 8 Wall Street Journal investigation revealed Gruden’s racist, anti-gay, and misogynistic emails. The New York Times revealed further emails in an Oct. 11 editorial when he was with the Raiders. Gruden resigned that night after signing a $100 million 10-year contract to return to the Raiders in 2018.
During an NFL probe into employment conditions, Gruden was texting with then-Washington executive Bruce Allen. The NFL allegedly had the emails since June 2021.
Raiders owner Mark Davis told ESPN, “Ask the NFL. They have all the answers.”
The suit alleges only Gruden’s 650,000 emails were released. The former Raiders coach claims in his lawsuit that this was done to force him out of the team.
Judge Nancy L. Allf decided in favor of Gruden on May 25, opening the potential of a jury trial by dismissing the NFL’s move to compel arbitration and dismiss the lawsuit.
Gruden got teary-eyed when speaking in Little Rock on Tuesday.
“I get a choked up, you know, because there’s a lot of misunderstanding out there right now. What you read, what you hear, what you watch on TV. Hell, I worked at ESPN for nine years. I worked hard at that job. I don’t even want to watch the channel anymore because I don’t believe everything is true. And I know a lot of it is just trying to get people to watch. But I think we’ve got to get back to reality.”
Under interim coach Rich Bisaccia, the Raiders went 7-5, won their final four games, and made the playoffs for the second time since 2002. Davis replaced Bisaccia and general manager Mike Mayock after a wild-card loss to the eventual AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals with Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler.