Jon Gruden resigns after report of anti-gay, misogynist emails

Jon Gruden announced his resignation as Las Vegas Raiders head coach on Monday shortly after a report that he repeatedly used anti-gay and misogynistic language over email.

“I have resigned as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders," Gruden said in a statement. "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.”

Raiders owner Mark Davis later confirmed Gruden's resignation.

Assistant head coach Rich Bisaccia is expected to take over the job in the interim, per multiple reports.

Gruden's decision follows a New York Times report exposing his email exchanges with former Washington Football Team executive Bruce Allen, among others.

The Times reviewed a trove of email exchanges involving Gruden that surfaced as part of an NFL investigation into workplace misconduct at the Washington Football Team. Among the 650,000 emails that were reviewed included several from Gruden starting in 2010 when he worked for ESPN as a "Monday Night Football" analyst.

In some of those emails, Gruden referred to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell as a "fa****t" and a "clueless anti football p****y." He wrote that Goodell shouldn't have pressured then-Los Angeles Rams coach Jeff Fisher to draft "queers," according to the report. The Rams made Michael Sam the first openly gay player to be drafted in the NFL in 2014.

Gruden denounced the NFL's move to hire women as referees and criticized acceptance of players protesting for racial justice during the national anthem. He also exchanged photos of topless women with Allen, including one of Washington Football Team cheerleaders, according to the report.

Monday's report arrives days after Gruden responded to a report that exposed racist language he used in reference to DeMaurice Smith, the Black executive director of the National Football League Players Association. Gruden declared on Friday that "I don't have a racist bone in my body" after the Wall Street Journal reported that he wrote of Smith an an email: "Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin [sic] tires,” playing on anti-Black trope.

The emails reviewed by the Times were part of the same investigation. The NFL previously announced that it had sent the emails to the Raiders for review. Some of the email exchanges also included Hooters co-founder Ed Droste, Outback Bowl executive Jim McVay and Tampa restauranteur Nick Reader, who founded Florida fried chicken franchise PDQ Restaurants, according to the report.

Neither Gruden, Allen, the NFL, the Raiders, Droste, McVay or Reader immediately responded to Times requests for comments.