Jon Gruden’s inflammatory emails, in which he used derogatory and racially insensitive language that led to him resign as head coach of the Raiders, were part of an investigation of the Washington Football Team by the NFL. The league seized over 650,000 emails, according to several reports.
It’s possible that there are damaging things for a lot of people in those emails, but one interesting tidbit was revealed in a June court filing that led to the revelation of Gruden’s words. In July 2011 during the NFL lockout, ESPN insider Adam Schefter sent an email of an unpublished story to then-Washington GM Bruce Allen, asking for feedback.
“Please let me know if you see anything that should be added, changed, tweaked,” Schefter wrote to Allen, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Thanks, Mr. Editor, for that and the trust. Plan to file this to espn about 6 am ….”
Per the LA Times, the court filing was part of Washington owner Dan Snyder’s defamation lawsuit in India, in which he was trying to compel Allen to produce information.
It’s frowned upon in journalism circles to share entire stories with sources, especially to obtain feedback, as it puts into question exactly how objective a reporter can be.
“Without sharing all the specifics of the reporter’s process for a story from 10 years ago during the NFL lockout, we believe that nothing is more important to Adam and ESPN than providing fans the most accurate, fair and complete story,” the statement read.
Schefter is arguably the top insider in all of NFL media, and consistently breaks the most important stories in the league.
“Wow. Now we know why Adam Schefter is an NFL insider, he allows teams to proofread his stories for their liking before he posts them,” lawyer and writer Exavier Pope said on Twitter.
“Wait, you mean to tell me Adam Schefter carries water for the NFL? not our fierce famously independent journalist ADAM SCHEFTER! (lol come on y’all cant be remotely surprised by this),” Bleacher Report’s Tyler Conway wrote.
Allen was the person Gruden shared his derogatory remarks with, in which he used the words “p—y,” “f—-t” and “queers” to describe league figures and shared topless photos of Washington cheerleaders, among other offenses.