Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden has resigned from his position, the Raiders announced Monday.
The announcement came shortly after a report in the New York Times claimed that Gruden had sent a series of offensive emails while working as an analyst at ESPN.
“I have resigned as Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders,” Gruden said in a statement tweeted by the Raiders.
“I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone.”
In a follow-up statement posted on Twitter, team owner Mark Davis said he has accepted Gruden’s resignation.
According to the New York Times, league officials conducting a workplace misconduct investigation — of which Gruden was not the focus — uncovered emails in which he wrote negatively about women referees, gay NFL players, and players who protested during the playing of the national anthem. Gruden did not respond to the Times’s request for comment.
Gruden last week also came under fire when The Wall Street Journal unearthed a 2011 email in which he made disparaging remarks about DeMaurice Smith, the head of the NFL players union. “Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of Michelin tires,” Gruden wrote, according to the Journal.
Gruden apologized for that comment at a post-game press conference Sunday.
Contact Jay Allen at [email protected]
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