Many current and former players have spoken out about fired Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden after multiple leaked emails showed that he disparaged Blacks, homosexuals and women in the game of football.
Gruden resigned on Monday, Oct. 11, 2021, following a New York Times report that he emailed a team executive from the Washington Football Team a series of hateful messages over a seven-year period that ended in 2018.
Keyshawn Johnson, who won a title under Gruden with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in 2002, was the harshest of Gruden’s detractors. Now a sports analyst and co-host of the ESPN morning talk show “Keyshawn, JWill & Max,” Johnson said he always felt that Gruden was a” fraud” and a “used car salesman.”
“He’s just always been a fraud to me. … From day one, he’s been a used car salesman,” Johnson said. “And people bought it because he inherited a championship team built by Tony Dungy and Rich McKay, and he came in there with a little bit of different energy than we had with Tony, and it kind of kicked us over the top to get our world championship — which I am grateful for. But at the same time, I also saw through who he was through that journey of getting a championship.”
“He’s just always been a fraud to me…from day one he’s been a used car salesman and people bought it.”@keyshawn reacts to Jon Gruden’s resignation from the Raiders. #KJM pic.twitter.com/iVu7vlJCjk
— UNSPORTSMANLIKE Radio (@UnSportsESPN) October 12, 2021
Raiders linebacker Denzel Perryman, however, said he couldn’t “care less” about what Gruden said years ago, while running back Josh Jacobs said Gruden never made him feel uncomfortable.
“I love everybody,” Raiders quarterback Derek Carr added, according to ESPN. “I don’t have a racist bone in my body. And I don’t believe that Coach does, either. I really don’t.”
