Jon Gruden resigned as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.
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Shelley Lipton/Icon SMI/Zuma Press
Electronic Arts Inc. said Wednesday it was removing Jon Gruden’s name from its “Madden NFL 22” videogame after it was revealed that the former coach used racist and antigay slurs in emails dating back a decade.
“EA Sports is committed to taking action in maintaining a culture of inclusion and equity,” the company said in a statement.
Mr. Gruden resigned as the Las Vegas Raiders coach earlier this week.
The videogame company said it will replace Mr. Gruden in “Madden NFL 22” with a “generic likeness.”
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Mr. Gruden used a racial trope to describe NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith in a 2011 email that said: “Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires.” The league said it had been “informed of the existence of emails that raised issues beyond the scope of that investigation.”
The New York Times later reported that Mr. Gruden also used offensive language in numerous other instances, including antigay language. He was out as Raiders coach shortly afterward.
“I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction,” Mr. Gruden said in a statement earlier this week. “Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone.”
Write to Talal Ansari at talal.ansari@wsj.com
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