Bucs Legend Sapp Defends Gruden, Predicts He’ll Legally Beat NFL

Bucs Corridor of Fame defensive deal with Warren Sapp has come to the protection of his former head coach Jon Gruden.

The Raiders fired Gruden, who was their head coach, in October of 2021 after e-mails surfaced from a decade in the past when he was at ESPN that contained language deemed to be racist, anti-gay and misogynistic.

The e-mails had been despatched to former Washington basic supervisor Bruce Allen, PDQ eating places founder Nick Reader, Outback Bowl govt Jim McVay and Hooters co-founder Ed Droste. The handful of Gruden’s e-mails, that are a part of 650,000 e-mails from the Washington Soccer Staff which are underneath investigation, had been leaked to the New York Instances.

The fallout from these vulgar e-mails led to Gruden not solely being fired from the Raiders, however his identify being faraway from the Bucs Ring of Honor.

Within the e-mails, Gruden known as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a homophobic slur and “an anti-football p—y.” He used a derogatory time period when speaking about former soccer participant Michael Sam, who’s overtly homosexual. Gruden additionally used racially derogatory language to explain NFLPA president DeMaurice Smith.

Sapp Says That Gruden Is Not A Racist

But Sapp, who gained a Tremendous Bowl with Gruden in 2002, defended his former head coach, saying that Gruden’s feedback may need been crass, however not racist. Sapp’s feedback had been in an interview on VladTV by way of Nick Geddes of Outkick.com.

“Wait, wait, wait – the place’s the racist time period?” Sapp stated in an interview on VladTV. “That’s racist? If he walked in and stated in my locker room ‘It seems like I acquired a bunch of DeMaurice Smiths in there by the mouth,’ that might be a racial trope. However to say DeMaurice Smith acquired massive lips? Yeah, DeMaurice Smith acquired massive lips, identical to Barack Obama acquired massive ears. We’ve been calling Huge-Lipped Johnny ‘Huge Lipped Johnny’ for the final 40 years.

“I guess that is the primary time in DeMaurice Smith’s life somebody known as him ‘massive lipped’ and he stated it was racist.”

Sapp stated there is no such thing as a manner Gruden is a racist.

“You’re not going to name my head coach a racist,” Sapp stated. “I sat in entrance of him for 2 years and I’m a toddler of the South, raised in Florida. There’s no manner a fire-breathing racist could be in entrance of me or on my pace dial and we haven’t had an actual dialogue about ‘your tendencies to not see the Black man in your degree.’ There’s no manner Jon Gruden’s that.”

Whereas Sapp defended Gruden towards fees of racism, he stopped effectively wanting absolving his former head coach of any wrongdoing with the language utilized in these e-mails.

“The remainder of that’s manner out of line, throughout the board,” Sapp stated. “No, simply not racist,” Sapp stated. “Don’t put that tag on him. The stuff about Michael Sam and Goodell being some not-football-knowing no matter, ah, come on. However everyone knows those that speak like that.

“Hey, if you’re a racist, I assure you the ‘N-word’ would’ve proven up in them e-mails. I assure you.”

Sapp factors out that Gruden didn’t use the “N-word” in any of these e-mails.

Sapp Believes Gruden Will Triumph Legally Over The NFL

Gruden is suing Goodell and the NFL for purposefully leaking these few choose e-mails out of the 650,000 different e-mails from the Washington Soccer Staff. He stated that the NFL destroyed his teaching and broadcasting profession utilizing a “malicious and orchestrated marketing campaign.”

Gruden scored two main court docket victories in Nevada in Could. Gruden and the NFL wouldn’t have to go arbitration to settle, and Gruden’s case can proceed.

With the lawsuit allowed to proceed, Gruden and his legal professionals can now pursue authorized discovery. They’ll try to unearth the contents of the opposite 650,000 e-mails that the general public hasn’t seen. The fallout from these e-mails may very well be very damaging to the Washington Commanders, different groups and the league itself.

“It’s simply beginning and the hits will carry on coming,” Sapp stated. “You understand this like I do, Vlad. When you’ve gotten gathered 650,000 e-mails and solely six of them get launched, the very first thing your lawyer goes to ask for is discovery. As soon as I ask for discovery, it’s over at that time. Completely over.”

Sapp predicts Gruden will legally conquer the NFL ultimately.

“They’ll roll over, they’re completely going to roll over,” Sapp stated. “They need to. That is the worst factor they might presumably think about. Are you able to think about what these e-mails say? As a result of we solely noticed what Gruden stated. The place are the chains of replies?”