Former ESPN personality and Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden has been laying low ever since he resigned in the wake of a scandal involving emails full of racist, homophobic, and misogynistic language. However, at a recent appearance, the former coach had the chance to speak to the emails and explain why he believes he is a good person.
Gruden joined the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Tuesday, and during the event, he addressed the scandal that ended his time with the Raiders.
Jon Gruden at the Little Rock Touchdown club commenting on the emails that ended his NFL coaching career. pic.twitter.com/1ClcWtdTRn
— Steve Sullivan (@sully7777) August 30, 2022
“I’m ashamed about what has come about in these emails, and I’ll make no excuses for it, it’s shameful,” said Gruden. However, while the disgraced former NFL head coach claims he won’t make excuses for his actions, he will make buts about it. “BUT, I am a good person. I believe that. I go to church, I’ve been married for 31 years, I got three great boys, I still love football. I’ve made some mistakes, but I don’t think anybody in here hasn’t and I just ask for forgiveness, and hopefully, I get another shot.”
The Super Bowl-winning coach then got emotional over the way he feels he’s been perceived.
“I get choked up because there’s a lot of misunderstanding out there right now,” Gruden continued after a brief pause. “What you read, what you hear, what you watch on TV. Hell, I worked at ESPN for nine years. I worked hard at that job. I don’t even want to watch the channel anymore because I don’t believe everything is true. I know a lot of it is just trying to get people to watch, but I think we got to get back to reality.”
Gruden is trying to thread a nearly impossible needle here as it’s on the record that he’s said some pretty reprehensible things, but he’s also trying to discredit media outlets like ESPN that reported on what he actually said.
And as for the fact that he goes to church and is married with children, not entirely sure what that has to do with his racist and homophobic comments but there you go. If anything, we should just be happy he didn’t blame “cancel culture.”
Certainly, there were some very strong reactions to Gruden’s comments, and if they hold any water.
Gruden said that he's a good person and that he "goes to church", as if that has any correlation. https://t.co/4fwKV1eUi8
— David Dearing (@ddearing88) August 30, 2022
Gruden was once the highest paid on-air person at ESPN. Now, he's not a fan. #EWTCSM https://t.co/1dXF7xO1mn
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) August 30, 2022
The first part of this is fine. The second part… what’s he talking about? https://t.co/fzv8xPtoqd
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) August 30, 2022
Ed note: You can apologize without “but” https://t.co/pl8ecu3Ont
— Patrick Claybon (@PatrickClaybon) August 30, 2022
Before anyone tries going to bat and goes down the road of “second chances” for Jon Gruden, you might want a refresher on all the hateful, bigoted, homophobic and misogynistic things he said over the years… which is what ended his coaching career.https://t.co/3vyO4JppaH https://t.co/9T1O8LVpxQ
— Jason Page (@TheBackPage) August 30, 2022
Pretty surprised to not hear him decry "cancel culture."
"I'm ashamed of what has come about in these emails, and I'll make no excuses for it. It's shameful. But I am a good person, I believe that. … I just ask for forgiveness and hopefully I get another shot." https://t.co/qMX8h2eybq
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) August 30, 2022
100% of people who say "i'm church going" to say they're good are rotten to the core https://t.co/iuyZ948fpY
— Ed Zitron (@edzitron) August 30, 2022
[Steve Sullivan, AA]
