Gruden to sue NFL and Goodell
Henderson, Nevada – Former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden is suing the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell in the wake of the leak of his private emails amid an investigation into the Washington Football Team.
Gruden’s attorney, Adam Hosmer-Henner of McDonald Carano, said in a statement that the lawsuit was filed in Eighth Judicial District Court in Clark County, Nevada.
“The lawsuit alleges that the defendants selectively leaked Gruden’s private correspondence to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times to damage Gruden’s reputation and force him out of his job,” Hosmer-Henner said. “There is no explanation or justification as to why Gruden’s emails were the only ones made public among the 650,000 emails collected in the NFL’s investigation of the Washington team or why the emails were kept for months before being released in the middle of the Raiders’ season.”
The emails, which contain racist, homophobic and misogynistic language, span a seven-year period beginning in 2011.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy called Gruden’s allegations “completely without merit” and emphasized that the league “will vigorously defend itself against these claims.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported Oct. 8 that Gruden had used a racial slur to describe NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith. Gruden apologized and two days later, an apathetic Raiders team lost at home to the Chicago Bears.
On Oct. 11, The New York Times reported on more troubling emails sent by Gruden. He resigned that night, apologizing again and saying he never intended to hurt anyone.
The emails were discovered as part of the NFL’s investigation into allegations of workplace misconduct by the Washington team. They were sent by Gruden to then-Washington president Bruce Allen and others.
Gruden has remained silent since his resignation, the Raiders are 2-1 under interim coach Rich Bisaccia and host the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night.
Gruden, who originally coached the Raiders from 1998 to 2001, then went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with whom he beat the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII, departed to the Raiders in 2018 on a 10-year, $100 million Contract.
