After the Jon Gruden resigned due to hateful language he used years ago, the football world has been questioning the league’s choice of Super Bowl performers.
Advertisement
Jon Gruden has been hogging the headlines for the last 15 hours. The Raiders HC was found to have used misogynistic, racist, and homophobic language in emails over the last 10 years, and almost immediately handed in his resignation after the news broke.
“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.”
Jon Gruden
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) October 12, 2021
A New York Times report details the exact offenses committed by Gruden if you’re interested, but the bottom line is that he likely won’t get another job in football, as a coach or analyst, ever again.
Raiders owner Mark Davis accepted Gruden’s resignation and named Rich Bisaccia, the special teams coordinator, as LV’s new interim head coach. While the Raiders are trying to move on quickly, many people are held up over one implication of Gruden’s resignation.
This year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show is set to feature a star-studded roster of artists including Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige.
It was exciting news a couple weeks ago when it was originally announced, but now, people are questioning if the NFL’s support for these artists is hypocritical when they’ve just forced out Gruden for using offensive language.
Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg particularly are well known for using hateful language unapologetically, so some have criticized commissioner Roger Goodell for his differing attitude towards the 2 situations.
NFL World Questions League’s Choice of Super Bowl Performers After Jon Gruden Drama
Clay Travis, a sports journalist and political commentator for Fox News who has himself gotten into trouble over questionable language usage in the past, was particularly critical of the NFL. He took to Twitter to air his concerns.
Every rapper the NFL has performing at the Super Bowl has more offensive lyrics than Jon Gruden had in his emails. How does the NFL reconcile the difference in treatment? These are questions all sports media would be asking if they were real journalists.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 12, 2021
I have no problem with rap lyrics, by the way, just like I have no problem with Dave Chappelle’s comedy routines. If you don’t like something, don’t watch or listen yourself. But canceling performers you don’t like is the antithesis of America’s marketplace of ideas.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 12, 2021
And Travis wasn’t alone in his argument. Tons of other fans and public figures made similar points online. Obviously, the instant response to these complaints is that holding a rapper to the same standards as someone sending emails in a formal environment is a pointless exercise.
One is expected to behave professionally while the other is literally paid to express themselves freely. However, the message that Travis is trying to convey certainly has its merits.
With the league so focused on promoting social inclusion nowadays, promoting rappers who have consistently used misogynistic language and homophobic slurs in the past is a strange decision, whether you believe what these artists have done is wrong or not.
