Tuesday morning, former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden appeared as a speaker at the Little Rock Touchdown Club. Among the things that he was asked about was the emails that he sent during his time at ESPN that would be uncovered that would ultimately forced him to resign from the Raiders five games into his fourth season with the team.
Those emails revealed racist and homophobic slurs by Gruden. They came to light during the investigation into the Washington Football team.
Here is what Gruden had to say;
“I’m not going to say anything but honest things here,” Gruden said. “I’m ashamed about what has come about in these emails. And I’ll make no excuses for it. It’s shameful. But I am a good person, I believe that. I go to church, I’ve been married for 31 years, I 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.”
Jon Gruden at the Little Rock Touchdown club commenting on the emails that ended his NFL coaching career. pic.twitter.com/1ClcWtdTRn
— Steve Sullivan (@sully7777) August 30, 2022
Gruden would get emotional in his explanation, saying it’s because “there’s a lot of misunderstanding out there right now.”
He went on to say he doesn’t even watch ESPN anymore because he doesn’t believe all of it is true. That it’s sensationalized to gain viewership. And that “We got to get back to reality” which sounds a lot like he’s suggesting his part in getting fired has been misrepresented.
It’s hard to misrepresent emails sent by him in his own words.
Also hard to misrepresent is the fact that the Raiders just cut his last top pick (Alex Leatherwood), cut both his first round picks in the 2020 draft last season, likely won’t have a single one of the four players he selected in the top 40 picks in the 2019 draft come next year,