Jon Gruden鈥檚 bones aren鈥檛 racist? The rest of him Is
Jon Gruden claims he doesn鈥檛 have a racist bone in his body.
It鈥檚 not his bones that got him into trouble.
It was his brain and his typing fingers that landed the onetime Super Bowl-winning coach in hot water.
As a result, he鈥檚 now taking his coaching talents to the unemployment line.
After the fullness of his racist, misogynistic, and homophobic email rants were revealed by journalists, he was left with hardly any recourse but to resign.
Some conservatives were quick to call Gruden鈥檚 resignation the result of 鈥淐ancel Culture.鈥�
Hogwash!
He quit.
He canceled himself.
Maybe it should be called 鈥淎ccountability Culture.鈥�
He caused his own demise.
He was in the fourth year of a lucrative, 10-year, $100 million contract as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.
He would鈥檝e been set for life if he hadn鈥檛 been so free with his negative opinions about Black people, gay people, and women.
鈥淚鈥檓 sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone,鈥� he said on Twitter.
First, the 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry鈥� part means he鈥檚 sorry he got caught. Not that he鈥檚 sorry he did it.
Second, nobody ever quits their job after getting caught saying vicious things, then announces, 鈥淚 really did mean to hurt those people.鈥�
That鈥檚 鈥檆ause claiming not to intentionally hurt people is the weakest and stupidest of near-apologies.
Everybody, except the person who makes those kinds of assertions, knows they鈥檙e being disingenuous.
Gruden is among the most famous of the sports executives who got caught making vile remarks about people of color.
There have been others.
Who could ever forget the antics of the majority owner of the Cincinnati Reds, Marge Schott, with her carefree use of the N-word?
It was revealed back in November 1992 that Schott called two of her Black players (Eric Davis and Dave Parker) 鈥渕illion-dollar ni**ers.鈥�
Later, it was reported that during a conference call, she proclaimed, 鈥淚 would never hire another ni**er.鈥�
Schott was suspended by Major League Baseball for one year because her language had been deemed 鈥渞acially and ethnically offensive.鈥�
In 1992, Major League Baseball only had 16.7% Black players.
That鈥檚 probably why Schott only got a one-year suspension.
(Only 7% of the Major League rosters in 2021 had 鈥淎merican-born鈥� Black players)
When Gruden made his ill-advised statements (from 2011 until 2018), he must鈥檝e forgotten that the sport in which he鈥檚 considered a leader is comprised of 70% Black players.
Gruden and Schott are just two of the most grievous examples of high-level sports figures caught tripping over their racist tongues.
There鈥檚 also Donald Sterling.
Back in 2014, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA was overheard on a recorded message making disparaging remarks about Black people.
Sterling had already been sued several times by the federal government for his alleged mistreatment of people of color who were tenants in the properties he owned.
He was summarily banned from the NBA and given a stiff $2.5 million fine.
The NBA has 74.2% Black players.
It鈥檚 a highly popular sport that, like pro football, is loaded with Black players.
Yet, some owners and coaches still resort to the same old vicious language of the past.
Gruden should have been fired.
He wasn鈥檛.
He quit before he got fired.
He knew he鈥檇 had a long history of making childish statements.
Not only that.
He鈥檚 also being accused of sharing topless pictures of cheerleaders through his email account.
What鈥檚 troubling about all of this is that there appears to have been such a casual nature about what Gruden was doing.
A real level of comfort.
So much so, that most likely there are more coaches and high-level NFL executives who may have been recipients of the emails. Or, they may have been participants in the email chains.
This is an embarrassment for the hierarchy of the NFL.
Especially since it seems to have weathered that storm about players kneeling during the national anthem.
Maybe this is time to welcome back Colin Kaepernick.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 40-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.
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