Jon Gruden’s inflammatory emails, in which he used derogatory and racially insensitive language that led to him resigning as head coach from the Raiders, were part of an investigation of the Washington Football Team by the NFL. The league seized over 650,000 emails, according to several reports.
It’s possible that there are damaging things for a lot of people in those emails, but one interesting tidbit was revealed in a June court filing that led to the revelation of Gruden’s words. In July 2011 during the NFL lockout, ESPN insider Adam Schefter sent an email of an unpublished story to then-Washington GM Bruce Allen, asking for feedback.
“Please let me know if you see anything that should be added, changed, tweaked,” Schefter wrote to Allen, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Thanks, Mr. Editor, for that and the trust. Plan to file this to espn about 6 am ….”
Per the LA Times, the court filing was part of Washington owner Dan Snyder’s defamation lawsuit in India, in which he was trying to compel Allen to produce information.
ESPN shared a statement in response to the discovery.
“Without sharing all the specifics of the reporter’s process for a story from 10 years ago during the NFL lockout, we believe that nothing is more important to Adam and ESPN than providing fans the most accurate, fair and complete story,” the statement read.
Schefter is arguably the top insider in all of NFL media, and consistently breaks the top stories in the league. It’s not particularly surprising to hear he has a relationship with important league figures – but the extent of that relationship may come as a surprise, especially with a league figure who has been under immense fire.
Allen was the person Gruden shared his derogatory remarks with, in which he used the words “p–sy,” “fa—t” and “queers” to describe league figures and shared topless photos of Washington cheerleaders, among other offenses.