Photo: Al Messerschmidt/Getty
Former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden is suing the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell over the circumstances surrounding his resignation last month.
On Oct. 12, Grudenstepped down as head coach of the Las Vegas football teamin the wake of resurfaced emails in which he reportedly used racially charged, homophobic and profane language.
The emails were originally gathered as part of an investigation into the Washington Football Team overallegations of toxic workplaceculture.
In a statement to PEOPLE on Friday, Gruden’s attorney Adam Hosmer-Henner wrote that the league and Goodell “selectively leaked Gruden’s private correspondence to theWall Street JournalandNew York Timesin order to harm Gruden’s reputation and force him out of his job.”
“There is no explanation or justification for why Gruden’s emails were the only ones made public out of the 650,000 emails collected in the NFL’s investigation of the Washington Football Team or for why the emails were held for months before being released in the middle of the Raiders' season,” Hosmer-Henner concluded.
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A week later,The New York Timesreported that Gruden sent numerous other emails over seven years (during which he was a broadcaster for ESPN) that “casually and frequently” used homophobic language to refer to NFL officials and players.
In one email, Gruden called the league’s commissioner, Goodell, a “clueless anti football p—-” and insisted that he shouldn’t have pressured then-Rams head coach Jeff Fisher to draft “queers,” the newspaper reported.
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In the complaint, Hosmer-Henner called the situation “a malicious and orchestrated campaign” against Gruden.
A spokesperson for the NFL told PEOPLE on Friday that “the allegations are entirely meritless and the NFL will vigorously defend against these claims.”
The spokesperson previouslycalled Gruden’s emails"appalling, abhorrent and wholly contrary to the NFL’s values."
Gruden is seeking damages on seven claims as well as punitive damages and attorney fees.
source: people.com
