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 may have played roles in the infamous email leaks that led to Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden’s 2021 firing.

Four unnamed team owners told ESPN that they think Goodell was personally involved with the leak, while another ownership source said it was league executives who approved the leaked emails, which contained racist and homophobic statements by Gruden.

The Wall Street Journal reported in October of 2021 that Gruden used a racist term  to describe NFL union chief DeMaurice Smith. Gruden resigned the following day, shortly after The New York Times revealed additional offensive emails, some of which dated back more than a decade. Gruden sued the league in November of 2021, claiming the NFL and Goodell engaged in a ‘orchestrated a malicious campaign’ to ‘destroy his career and reputation.’

Speaking with ESPN this week, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy repeated 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 from 2011 to 2018 by Gruden to several people, including former Washington Redskins executive Bruce Allen, while Gruden was an announcer at ESPN. Gruden coached in the NFL from 1990 to 2008, including head-coaching stints with the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was hired by the Raiders again in 2018, the team’s first year in Las Vegas.

Jon Gruden appears in court in May of 2022 after a hearing in his ongoing lawsuit with the NFL

Four unnamed team owners told ESPN that they think Goodell was involved with the leak, while Snyder is also accused of sharing the emails with the New York Times and Wall Street Journal

In one email, Gruden said Smith, who is black, had ‘lips the size of Michelin tires’ and also called Goodell a ‘f*****’ in another message. 

It was the NFL’s investigation into sexual harassment allegations Snyder and the Commanders that uncovered Gruden’s emails to Allen, who 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. 

Snyder, who is awaiting league approval on his $6 billion sale of the Commanders, is also being accused of leaking the emails to the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. 

According to ESPN interviews with executives, lawyers, 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 aid the NFL on social justice issues)

Sources told ESPN that Snyder was hoping to deflect blame over sexual harassment allegations against himself and the team onto Allen by leaking the emails. Furthermore, ESPN reports, Snyder was hoping to gain favor with Goodell by giving him ammunition against Gruden, one of his long-time critics.

Allen did not respond to phone messages from DailyMail.com, and the Commanders declined to comment when contacted by ESPN.

While the Commanders have fired many of the individuals accused of sexual harassment and paid a $10 million fine to the NFL, Snyder has defiantly denied accusations against him in the face of subsequent investigations. Sexual harassment allegations against team employees ranged from inappropriate comments to the creation of a lewd behind-the-scenes video from a cheerleader calendar shoot in 2008, according to the 2020 Washington Post report that first uncovered the claims.

ESPN is reporting that one Reed Smith attorney told a source before and after the leaks that the firm and Perez were involved in the plan to leak the emails, although their exact actions were never specified.

Perez’s significance in the alleged scheme isn’t clear, but she is said to serve a dual role as an NFL consultant with sway in the league office and as a Snyder ally and confidant.

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

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

However, Perez’s attorney did tell ESPN that she ‘had no role whatsoever in the leaking of any emails, or in any discussion or decision to leak any emails.’

Interestingly, Gruden’s brother, Jay, worked for Snyder and Allen as the Redskin’s head coach from 2014 until 2019, although he has not been implicated in the matter. 

NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith allegedly bragged about having a role in the leaks, according to one associate who pointed out that the reports came as Smith was facing a union vote to keep his job.

Smith declined to speak with ESPN.

Redacted versions of some of Gruden’s emails were also filed in federal court in June of 2021 as part of Snyder’s efforts to compel Bruce Allen to produce discovery in a separate lawsuit

Melanie Coburn (left), a former Washington cheerleader, accused Snyder of leaking Gruden’s emails to shift blame for the Redskins’ sexual harassment scandal onto Bruce Allen (right) 

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

NBC’s Peter King, a veteran NFL reporter, previously wrote that ‘several smart people in the league think the leaks come from the Snyder camp’ and that reporting 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 cheerleaders for 14 years, claims he leaked the emails in an effort to push blame for the team’s sexual harassment scandal onto Allen.

‘I believe Dan Snyder leaked these emails,’ Coburn told Fox News on October 19, 2021. ‘I believe he’s trying to put all the blame on Bruce Allen.’

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

‘He sent over a dozen private investigators to my colleagues’ homes across the country … to show up on cheerleaders’ doorstops and ask them what their relationship with Bruce Allen was,’ Coburn said.

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

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

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

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

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

His motion directing discovery from Allen in the case was dropped in April of 2021.

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