These aren’t mutually exclusive - really, they’re the same thing. To be clear, I am not saying this is a problem or that Gruden got a raw deal or anything like that. But when businesses make a decision to fire someone to avoid or mitigate the public backlash, it’s because they fear the consequences of any loss of business that’s going to come from an environment that some would label “cancel culture.” If there was no “cancel culture” out there, then businesses would just look the other way and continue on as usual. This incident wouldn’t have resulted in a resignation even 10 years ago, so the cultural changes (including “cancel culture”) are the difference.
That said, NFL coaches mostly come from a macho good ol’ boys club that also tends to be more conservative - chances are that more than half of them say shit like this, so it’s one of those things where Gruden was dumb enough to put it in record/get caught rather than being significantly outside the norm.
Any such comment - and I’m sure one’s been made - would hold enough irony to create its own magnetic field; one of the emails was Gruden saying Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid should be fired, for protesting police brutality.
It will be interesting to see. While Gruden was very likely not the only one making dumb, locker-room comments in email, there are very likely others who did the same thing, and are buried in that trove of emails - and they know it. Will anyone just come out early and say “Hey, I said some pretty stupid shit in some emails to Dan Snyder a few years ago - and it’s likely to eventually come out. I apologize ahead of time.” Would this lessen the consequences for that person?
I’ve thought that there’s money to be made in developing an app like the old “Clippy” Office Assistant that would pop up anytime a famous person is about to send an e-mail:
“It look like you’re sending a racist tirade to a colleague at this official address. Did you know that e-mails are fully discoverable in criminal and civil proceedings? Would you like me to delete your 37 uses of the “n-word”?”
True enough, but if Gruden hadn’t resigned, he wouldn’t have been fired to avoid public backlash. He would have been fired because his effectiveness as a coach would have been undermined. Most of his players are Black and one is openly gay. Why would they continue to respect him?
When this first came out, the impression I got was that it was one email. I thought it might have been one of those situations where one gets angry and vents in a very unfortunate way. It turns out, however, that it was a number of emails spanning several years. How could he not realize that he was digging his own professional grave even back then? That amazes me.
I think it’s worth noting that Bruce Allen, the former president at Washington (the former ethnic slur team) that Gruden was exchanging emails with, was replaced by this guy:
That organization has been in damage control for a couple years and I expect they will be for some time.
He was sending personal emails to a personal friend but to his business email address. This is not uncommon, though many of us have learned how to curate our online life better than that. It was even the subject of some Congressional action not that long ago.
If Washington wasn’t such a cesspool of bad behavior, it’s conceivable none of these emails would ever have gone public. It’s only because they were ALSO investigating that team that anything about Gruden got out.
And we haven’t seen any emails from Snyder or Allen or several others. It’s more than likely there’s equally terrible things that the NFL will likely never release.
Agree with “good riddance” and, I, too, am looking forward to never seeing or hearing from him again.
I saw an interview with Keyshawn Johnson who said something I’ve thought for years, but could never accurately articulate: Gruden was just a used car salesman. He would talk about how much “I just love football, man” and “Boy this play is so great, man” and do all his talk and excitement…but he won a championship with a roster another (inferior imo) coach built and did Jack ever since. He was insufferable on ESPN and he’s also the type of person that I 100% believe would say all this shit.
Bye Felicia.
(oh sorry, that’s probably too “urban” for Gruden and he wouldn’t like it.)
Yeah really. And like others said, probably just one of many.
(Meanwhile, smh at how it turns out the name of the Washington Football Team (new name: the Washington Abject Apology) was the least of its problems… (No, seriously, the shit with the cheerleaders?? Wha’ the f…??? I could see that as the plot of some soft-porn vid, but for real in the 2000s???) )
The best bit was when the NFL took over the investigation into the toxic culture in Washington. Hired independent counsel Beth Wilkinson to look into instances of bullying, misogyny, and sexual harrassment.
It would be interesting to read her report. Except that you can’t - the NFL didn’t require her to write one. The one article I saw said that she had, but that the NFL refused to release it.
John Gruden is a tool who deserves the obloquy he’s now receiving, but he and Bruce Allen are the only ones who will be sacrificed to appease the public. Dan Snyder is an owner, and the NFL is closing ranks to defend him; he’ll get to skate.
I dunno, I see a bright future for him in Republican politics, if he so chooses.
But if the NFL controlled the possession of the emails from the beginning, why would they even release the first email at all, which they know would get everyone digging into their sordid mess? Something doesn’t smell right here.
My guess is someone on the inside was affiliated with the Raiders, and they had a personal vendetta against Gruden and/or disapproved of Gruden’s coaching proficiency, so they deliberately leaked the emails to trigger a chain of events leading to Gruden’s ouster.
There are apparently several emails from Bruce Allen with similar content and from Jeff Pash (a long time NFL general counsel) showing the league office wasn’t taking allegations very seriously in private.
Tip of the iceberg, I guess. Parts of the whole sordid mess are coming out.
I believe it was only one email when it first came out - the one where he referred to Bruce Allen having ‘lips as big as Michelin tires’ or something similar. Gruden played it off as a metaphor for lying and not a racial trope, and I honestly think he would have survived it if that had been all. Then, several more emails came out demonstrating that this was not a one-off lapse of judgment, but rather a terrible human putting his thoughts into writing for all time.
Clarification: that email was sent from Gruden to Bruce Allen, but the derogatory, racist comparison was being made in reference to DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players Association (the player union), who is an African American.
