Video game conglomerate EA Games announced in a tweet Wednesday that former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and his likeness will be scrubbed from the popular video game “Madden 22” in the coming weeks.
Gruden abruptly resigned from his role as head coach of the Raiders on Monday night after a series of explicit, derogatory and offensive emails written by Gruden were published by The New York Times.
— Madden NFL 22 (@EAMaddenNFL) October 13, 2021
“Due to the circumstances of Jon Gruden’s resignation, we are taking steps to remove him from Madden NFL 22,” EA Games said in a tweet. “We will replace him with a generic likeness via a title update in the coming weeks.”
In a number of emails with league insiders, such as former Washington Football Team president Bruce Allen from sometime in 2011, Gruden casually used homophobic and racist language, according to The New York Times.
In his emails, Gruden called then-Vice President Joe Biden a “clueless pu**y” and compared DeMaurice Smith’s lips to Michelin tires. Gruden also accused the NFL of pressuring then-St. Louis Rams President Jeff Fischer to draft “queers,” and criticized the emergence of female referees, as well as players kneeling during the national anthem, according to The New York Times.
Gruden also commented on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, calling him a “fa**ot” and an “anti-football pu**y,” The New York Times reported. Gruden sent the emails in question, reportedly dated from 2011 to 2018, while serving as a sports commentator for ESPN.
The NFL discovered the correspondence while conducting a separate unrelated investigation into workplace misconduct within the league, during which it reviewed 650,000 internal employee emails. (RELATED: Was Jon Gruden’s Career Deliberately Assassinated? Questions Linger As Only His Emails Appear To Have Leaked)
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers also took action to condemn Gruden by removing him from the Buccaneers Ring of Honor following his exit from the Raiders. Gruden led the team to their first Super Bowl victory in 2002.
The #Bucs are removing Jon Gruden from their ring of honor. pic.twitter.com/kIV6vj1i5y
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 12, 2021
“While we acknowledge Jon Gruden’s contributions on the field, his actions go against our core values as an organization. Therefore, he will no longer continue to be a member of the Buccaneers Ring of Honor,” reads a statement from the team.
The Raiders promoted its assistant head coach and special teams coordinator, Rich Bisaccia, to interim head coach Monday.