Akbar Gbajabiamila ‘shocked’ Over Jon Gruden Emails; Shares He ‘apologized to me’
Tuesday, “The Talk” host and former Raiders player Akbar Gbajabiamila reacts to Jon Gruden resigning as coach of the Raiders after offensive emails surfaced. “This one cuts really deep.
Clearly, Jon Gruden is out of pocket for this one.” Akbar adds, “As a former player I was kind of lost, just dumbfounded by the whole thing. But I think this speaks too to I think something that the NFL has been dealing with for a very long time, and I think there’s some underground stuff that we still need to have come out.”
He adds, “I did reach out to Jon Gruden because I was disturbed and…I was shocked by it. He did reply back to me and we did have a discussion via text. Jon first off apologized to me.
He mentioned that he didn’t ever mean to hurt anyone. But I don’t think any of that really excuses obviously what was written out there…clearly, I’m condemning what Jon Gruden said, but then moving it forward; How do we have conversations to get better? I think the NFL needs more transparency first and foremost…we got to really get into this idea of having a two-way conversation…with the players, the coaches, and management.” He adds, “When you get rid of a coach or when you get rid of someone…you miss the opportunity to have that conversation to grow. Because does Jon get to grow off on the side in the cuts, you know what I mean? Yes he loses his job, but where’s the conversation? There’s a lot of people in that locker room. Black players and of course the first openly gay NFL player that doesn’t get to have the conversation.”
