NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, ex-Commanders owner Dan Snyder accused of leaking Jon Gruden emails

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and outgoing Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder are accused of leaking Jon Gruden’s racist, homophobic emails that led to his resignation as Las Vegas Raiders head coach in 2021.

That’s what four unnamed team owners told ESPN that they believe Goodell was personally involved in the leak. Another source of ownership said it was league executives who approved the leaked emails, which contained racist and homophobic statements by Gruden, a longtime critic of the league bureau and Goodell.

The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2021 that Gruden used a racist term to describe NFL union leader DeMaurice Smith. Gruden resigned the next day with $100 million left on his contract, shortly after The New York Times revealed additional offensive emails, some of which were more than a decade old. Gruden then sued the league in November 2021, claiming that the NFL and Goodell were engaged in an “orchestrated malicious campaign” to “destroy his career and reputation.”

Speaking to ESPN this week, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy echoed the league’s denial that Goodell had any involvement in the leak: “Neither the NFL nor the commissioner leaked Coach Gruden’s offensive emails.”

The messages were sent by Gruden to several people from 2011 to 2018, including former Washington Redskins executive Bruce Allen, while Gruden was an announcer at ESPN. Gruden was a coach in the NFL from 1990 to 2008, including head coaching with the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was rehired by the Raiders in 2018, the team’s first year in Las Vegas.

In an email, Gruden said Smith, who is black, had “lips the size of Michelin tires,” and also called Goodell a “f*****” in another post.

Raiders owner Mark Davis felt the leaks were a “setup,” but decided to poll current and former team players to gauge whether or not he should fire Gruden, a source told ESPN.

Davis tended to keep Goodell, but sources say he was pressured by Goodell to “do something” — a directive the Raiders’ owner saw as the Commissioner’s attempt to protect Snyder.

It was the NFL’s investigation into allegations of sexual harassment by Snyder and the commanders that exposed Gruden’s emails to Allen.

Snyder, who is awaiting League approval for his $6 billion sale of the Commanders to Josh Harris, is also accused of leaking the emails to the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.

According to ESPN interviews with executives, attorneys, agents, as well as league and team officials, Snyder is accused of leaking the emails with the help of his law firm, Reed Smith, and Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez. (Roc Nation, the entertainment agency founded by Jay-Z in 2008, has a $25 million contract to help the NFL with social justice issues)

Sources told ESPN that Snyder hoped to shift the blame for sexual harassment allegations against himself and the team onto Allen by leaking the emails. Additionally, ESPN reports, Snyder hoped to curry favor with Goodell by giving him ammunition against Gruden, one of his old critics.

Allen did not respond to calls from DailyMail.com and the commanders declined to comment when contacted by ESPN. (Allen, the brother of ex-Virginia governor George Allen, was fired by Washington after the team went 3-13 in 2019 and later found himself in his own legal battle with Snyder over the remainder of his contract.)

Although the commanders fired many of the individuals accused of sexual harassment and paid a $10 million fine to the NFL, Snyder has defiantly denied the allegations against him in light of subsequent investigations. Allegations of sexual harassment against team members ranged from inappropriate comments to making a lewd behind-the-scenes video of a 2008 cheerleading calendar shoot, according to the 2020 Washington Post report that first exposed the claims.

ESPN reports that before and after the leaks, a lawyer for Reed Smith told a source that the company and Perez were involved in the plan to share the emails with the media, though their exact actions were never specified.

Perez’s significance in the alleged scheme is not clear, but she is said to serve dual roles as an NFL adviser with clout in the league office and as an ally and confidant to Snyder.

Reed Smith’s Jordan Siev – Snyder’s attorney – denied his company’s involvement in the leaks to ESPN: “Neither Dan Snyder nor anyone on his or the team’s behalf ever asked or authorized that Reed Smith [leak the emails]. Any statement to the contrary is false.”

Perez declined to speak to ESPN, and a Roc Nation spokesperson did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.

However, Perez’s lawyer did tell ESPN that she “played no part in the email leaks, or any discussion or decision to leak emails.”

Interestingly, Gruden’s brother, Jay, worked for Snyder and Allen as the Redskin’s head coach from 2014 to 2019, though he was not involved in the matter.

In addition, Smith reportedly bragged about his role in the leaks, according to an associate who pointed out that the reports came as Smith faced a union vote to keep his job.

Smith refused to talk to ESPN.

It has long been speculated that the emails were leaked by Snyder, his wife Taynya or their employees.

NBC’s Peter Kinga veteran NFL reporter, previously wrote that “several smart people in the league think the leaks are coming from the Snyder camp” and that the coverage has since been matched by the Washington Post.

Meanwhile, a former Washington cheerleader and marketing director has accused Dan of leaking Gruden’s emails.

Melanie Coburn, who worked with the team’s cheerleading squad for 14 years, claims he leaked the emails in an attempt to blame Allen for the team’s sexual harassment scandal.

“I believe Dan Snyder leaked these emails,” Coburn told Fox News on Oct. 19, 2021. “I think he’s trying to blame Bruce Allen.”

According to Coburn, private investigators working for Dan spoke to former team cheerleaders to question them about Allen.

“He sent more than a dozen private investigators to the homes of my colleagues across the country … to show up on cheerleaders’ doorsteps and ask them about their relationship with Bruce Allen,” Coburn said.

“I feel like he’s trying to pin everything on Bruce, right, and put all the blame for all the bad culture on him, which just isn’t true.”

Siev previously denied Coburn’s allegations in a statement to DailyMail.com.

But if Coburn’s claim is correct, this wouldn’t be the first time Snyder shared some of Gruden’s emails publicly.

Redacted versions of some of Gruden’s emails were also filed in federal court in June 2020 as part of Snyder’s efforts to force Allen to make discovery in a separate libel lawsuit filed in India against a tabloid website. Several of the emails included in that lawsuit and reviewed by DailyMail.com are among those leaked to the Times.

Snyder sought to prove that Allen was involved in a plot to falsely link him to disgraced investor Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender who committed suicide in prison in 2019.

His motion to direct Allen’s discovery in the case was withdrawn in April 2021.

The two have also been at odds over several issues, including Allen’s severance pay, which Snyder was due to pay in full in 2020.