ASHBURN, Va. — The NFL and the Washington Football Team are facing more backlash this week after more than 650,000 emails were looked at as part of an investigation into workplace misconduct within the Washington franchise, prompting Jon Gruden to resign as head coach of the Oakland Raiders earlier this week.
The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that from 2011-2018 while he was an ESPN analyst between coaching jobs, Jon Gruden used racist, misogynistic and homophobic language directed at union chief DeMaurice Smith, Commissioner Roger Goodell and others around the NFL in written exchanges with former Washington executive Bruce Allen.
The emails were gathered as part of an investigation of the Washington Football Team after former employees made allegations about sexual harassment and other workplace misconduct. The club, which is valued in the billions, was fined $10 million by the NFL and owner Dan Snyder stepped away from day-to-day operations for a period of months, but there was no written report of lawyer Beth Wilkinson’s inquiry.
Lawyers representing 40 former employees of the team on Tuesday urged the NFL to immediately release the full findings of the investigation. They called it “outrageous” that only Gruden has been “held accountable” after the 10-month probe.
The Washington Football Team is busy preparing for its game Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, and after Thursday's practice, Washington's defensive coordinator, Jack Del Rio, broke his silence following the release of Gruden's emails, saying, "It's shocking. Embarrassingly bad for a person in that position. To have those kind of thoughts and then to express them like that. I don't have much respect for it."
Washington's offensive coordinator is Scott Turner, whose father, Norv, was head coach of the Washington Football Team from 1994-2000 before Dan Snyder bought the team, and before Bruce Allen became its general manager. After practice Thursday, asked Turner about the emails and their distraction on this team as it prepares for another game.
Turner said, "obviously you see the headlines, and you see what's coming out, and at first you're just like 'what is going on, what is happening', and then once you get in the grind of it you try not to think about that stuff, but then there are moments in the day when you're like 'man this is wild and I can't believe this is happening."
Washington head coach, Ron Rivera, did not speak after practice, Thursday, but is set to speak to members of the media on Friday.
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