Tampa Bay Buccaneers expel Jon Gruden from Ring of Honor over offensive emails

LAS VEGAS - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be removing Jon Gruden from the team's Ring of Honor in the wake of his resignation over offensive emails he reportedly sent several years ago.

Gruden, the Las Vegas Raiders head coach who is also a familiar face around Tampa Bay, resigned Monday night after the string of messages – sent before being hired by Las Vegas in 2018 – surfaced. 

Gruden spent seven seasons coaching the Buccaneers. He led them to their first Super Bowl victory in 2003 and was inducted into the Ring of Honor in 2017, but will now be removed.

"The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have advocated for purposeful change in the areas of race relations, gender equality, diversity and inclusion for many years," Tuesday's team-issued statement read. "While we acknowledge Jon Gruden’s contributions on the field, his actions go against our core values as an organization. Therefore, he will no longer continue to be a member of the Buccaneers Ring of Honor."

The events leading up to Gruden's resignation started on Friday when the Wall Street Journal reported that he'd used a racist term to describe NFL union chief DeMaurice Smith in a 2011 email to his friend and former general manager in Tampa, then-Washington executive Bruce Allen.

The team was then given additional emails on Friday that The New York Times reported Monday contained homophobic and misogynistic comments directed at Commissioner Roger Goodell and others in the NFL, including Bucs owner Bryan Glazer.

The emails were discovered in a workplace misconduct investigation into the Washington Football Team but ended up costing Gruden his job when they also showed Gruden denounced the drafting of a gay player and the tolerance of players protesting during the playing of the national anthem among other issues.

Gruden apologized for his "insensitive remarks" about Smith, saying they were made out of frustration over the 2011 lockout. But the latest emails sent from between 2011-18 when Gruden was an analyst for ESPN show his use of derogatory language went well beyond that.

The Times reported that Gruden used a gay slur to insult Goodell and said he was "clueless" and "anti-football." He also said Goodell shouldn’t have pressured the Rams to draft "queers," a reference to Michael Sam, who was the first openly gay player drafted by an NFL team.

Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib came out as gay in June and is the first openly gay player to appear in an NFL game.

In a 2017 email, the Times said Gruden responded to a sexist meme of a female official by saying: "Nice job roger."

The paper also said Gruden criticized Goodell and the NFL league for trying to reduce concussions, and said that Eric Reid, a player who had demonstrated during the playing of the national anthem, should be fired.

The newspaper said Gruden also mocked an article in 2017 about players calling on Goodell to support their efforts promoting racial equality and criminal justice reform.

"He needs to hide in his concussion protocol tent," Gruden wrote.

Gruden and Allen have a long relationship, having worked together in Oakland and Tampa Bay. The emails between the two and other men included photos of women wearing only bikini bottoms, including one photo of two Washington team cheerleaders.

Gruden also criticized President Barack Obama during his re-election campaign in 2012, and then-vice president Joe Biden.

Smith said earlier Monday that he appreciates that Gruden reached out to him following the initial report, but that the email is evidence that the fight against racism is ongoing.

"But make no mistake, the news is not about what is said in our private conversation, but what else is said by people who never thought they would be exposed and how they are going to be held to account," Smith wrote in a Twitter thread.

Gruden’s comments to Allen about Smith came during the 2011 lockout of the players by the NFL. Gruden told the Wall Street Journal he was angry about the lockout during labor negotiations and he didn’t trust the direction the union was taking.

"Dum­b­oriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires," Gruden wrote in the email re­viewed by the newspaper.

Raiders owner Mark Davis had been trying to hire Gruden almost since he took charge following the death of his father, Al, in 2011. He finally got his prize in 2018 when Gruden agreed to leave ESPN and return to the sideline with a 10-year contract. Gruden had revived the Raiders in is first stint in 1998-2001 and then beat them in the Super Bowl the following season after he was traded to Tampa Bay for a boatload of draft picks.

Gruden has a 117-112 career record but hasn’t won a playoff game since the Super Bowl victory over the Raiders in the 2002 season.

A league source confirms the accuracy of the emails and said they were sent to the Raiders last week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the league hasn’t made the emails public.

Davis said last week that the email about Smith was "disturbing and not what the Raiders stand for" and said the team was reviewing the additional emails.

Gruden has apologized for the "insensitive remarks." He was still allowed to coach on Sunday but stepped down Monday.

Davis issued a statement Monday saying only that he accepted Gruden’s resignation.

Gruden was in the fourth year of a 10-year, $100 million contract he signed with the Raiders in 2018. He released a statement following his resignation:

"I have resigned as head coach of the Las Vegas 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."

Special teams and assistant head coach Rich Bisaccia will take over on an interim basis.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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