As the 2021 NFL season started to take its course, the Raiders sparked headlines early on, on October 11, 2021, when their very own head coach, Jon Gruden, was revealed to have made misogynistic and homophobic statements.

Over the past couple of years, Jon Gruden served as a head coach for the NFL for fifteen seasons. To begin with, he led the Oakland Raiders for four seasons and then moved onto the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for six years, where he was then dismissed. The dismissal came after the team had a horrible loss of four games and missed the playoffs. Gruden then returned to the Oakland Raiders in 2018. He maintained until his recent resignation following the leaked emails in which he used language to denigrate and mock people. The emails also contained racist tropes, degrading of women, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic insults.

In light of the released emails, people remained uncertain about their opinion on Jon Gruden. They felt that the situation held controversy because although these emails have just come out and seem fresh and new, these emails are dated from 2011 to 2018. Regardless of the dates, on October 11, 2021, Jon Gruden came out with the following statement, “I have resigned as Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone.”                 

After the emails were leaked and Jon Gruden gave his resignation, more statements came out from Gruden himself in which he states, “I do know this, at that point of my life, 11 years ago or ten years ago, I am sure I vented a little bit with my friends about certain things.” He then indicated that he was “upset” and used the wrong way of expressing it. A fellow Raider fan and Anaheim High School student, Jovani Olivares, had this to say, “I thought that he was a pretty good coach. Yeah, I’m going to miss him, and I think that it’s gonna mess with their gameplay for their first game. It also sucks for the fans. His nickname was “Chucky” like the doll from the movie.”