Jon Gruden, recently turfed out of the NFL over a batch of offensive emails, is suing the league and its commissioner.
The former Raiders coach claims in the suit that “Through a malicious and orchestrated campaign, the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell sought to destroy the career and reputation of Jon Gruden.”
The lawsuit was first reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday.
Goodell and the NFL have claimed since Gruden’s firing in October that they did not leak Gruden’s emails.
Gruden’s move to sue the league is perhaps unsurprising. He was the only person to lose his job in the sprawling investigation into workplace sexual abuse and misconduct at the Washington Football Team, and indeed the only person in the league to have his emails published. As an ESPN employee between 2011 and 2018, Gruden was swapping offensive emails with WFT president Bruce Allen and businessmen like the founder of Hooters.
He coached a single game after the Wall Street Journal reported on a racist email Gruden sent about NFL union head DeMaurice Smith, and was fired days later when the New York Times reported on a tranche of emails that contained misogynist and anti-gay language.
Gruden claims in the suit that Goodell and the league office “held the emails for months until they were leaked to the national media in the middle of the Raiders’ season in order to cause maximum damage to Gruden.”
The NFL called Gruden’s suit “entirely meritless” in a statement Friday.
