Donald Trump Jr has defended Jon Gruden, the disgraced head coach of Las Vegas Raiders who resigned this week amid allegations of homophobia and racism.
The eldest son of former president Donald Trump called for the National Football League (NFL) to release emails and messages from all team owners and executives.
“Let’s see the emails and texts of (commissioner Roger) Goodell and every NFL owner/executive. We must find out if they’ve ever said anything wrong, shared a controversial thought or held an opinion that wasn’t PC. No statute of limitations,” Mr Trump Jr tweeted.
He said the NFL owners should not be allowed to hide behind their “white privilege”.
Mr Gruden stepped down from his post after emails were brought to light where he allegedly used homophobic, racist and misogynistic language.
He frequently used misogynistic and homophobic language directed at Roger Goodell and others in the NFL, The New York Times reported. It was also said that Mr Gruden made a racist comment about the executive director of the NFL players union in 2011.
The coach in a statement on Monday said: “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”.
Comparing the incident with controversies surrounding president Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, Mr Trump Jr wrote, “the same left-wingers that want to burn John Gruden at the stake for saying some stupid things in private emails from 10 years ago were awfully quiet when leaked texts that were much more recent (2018!) showed Hunter Biden repeatedly dropping the N-word”.
Josh Barnett, a congressional candidate from Arizona, wrote: “Hunter Biden’s emails are 100x worse than Gruden’s.”
Political commentator and sports journalist Clay Travis alleged that “every rapper the NFL has performing at the Super Bowl has more offensive lyrics than Jon Gruden had in his emails.”
Conservative talk show host Jesse Kelly argued that Mr Gruden’s resignation was led by “a bunch of lying, whiny pretenders in this country.”
“It is all cancel culture bull***t,” wrote television host Greg Kelly.
Mr Gruden signed a 10-year contract worth up to $100 million to coach the Raiders in 2018. He had earlier run the team briefly from 1998 to 2001.
The NFL obtained emails that Mr Gruden sent to the former president of the Washington Football Team Bruce Allen in a separate investigation of workplace misconduct. Mr Gruden allegedly used a racist comment to describe NFL Players Association leader DeMaurice Smith, theWall Street Journal reported.
The latest report revealed that he denounced the drafting of a gay player and players protesting during the playing of the national anthem, among other issues. He allegedly used a gay slur to insult Mr Goodell and Michael Sam, the league’s first openly publicly gay player.
He also said Mr Goodell shouldn’t have pressured the Los Angeles Rams to draft “queers” — referring to Michael Sam.
Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib came out in June and is the first openly gay player to appear in an NFL game.
