The Washington Commanders were allegedly behind the release of troubling old emails that resulted in Jon Gruden‘s firing as Las Vegas Raiders head coach, a new House Oversight and Reform Committee report claims.
The 79-page report — titled “How the NFL and the Washington Commanders Covered Up Decades of Sexual Misconduct” — was released on Thursday, more than a year after launching the investigation — and it’s ugly for Dan Snyder, with the committee concluding he “permitted and participated in” the horrific workplace culture.
In fact, the committee says Snyder attempted to shift blame onto others and away from himself, and even provided a host of damaging emails sent and/or received by former team president Bruce Allen to the House Oversight Committee … the day before Allen was set to testify.
Those emails contained the profane and arguably racist messages sent by Jon Gruden years earlier … which were published in the Wall Street Journal. Gruden, the Raiders head coach at the time, was forced to step down from his job as a result of the scandal.
Jon Gruden Out As Raiders Coach After Reported Homophobic Slurs In Emails
The report says Allen asked a member of the NFL’s legal team why they’d released the emails to the paper, to which the attorney responded … “We didn’t do it at the league office. It came out of their side.”
Of course, the emails from about a decade ago, which contained homophobic language and racial tropes, were made public by The Journal in October 2021 … and the Super Bowl-winning coach stepped down shortly after. He has not worked as a coach since.
In addition to the revelation about the emails, the Committee report paints a damning picture of an organization rife with workplace misconduct, much of it originating from the very top of the Commanders.
Last month, Snyder announced he’d hired a bank to investigate potential interest in a sale for the Commanders.
As we reported, Jeff Bezos and Jay-Z, both interested in acquiring the team, recently had a secret dinner meeting in Los Angeles to discuss a potential partnership.
Safe to say whoever takes over the team — if it does go up for sale — will have a big cleanup on their hands.
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