ESPN’s Keyshawn Johnson Claims Jon Gruden was Always a ‘Bad Person’: ‘I’m Not Gonna Let it Just Disappear’

The battles between Keyshawn Johnson and Jon Gruden were well-documented during their time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the early 2000s. Despite winning a Super Bowl together, the duo rarely got along and Johnson was often blamed for being immature.

Last Friday, the Wall Street Journal shared a 2011 email written by Gruden that included a racist trope to describe NFL Players Association director DeMaurice Smith. “Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires,” Gruden wrote, while he was a member of ESPN’s Monday Night Football booth.

“What he said about Smith is disturbing,” Johnson said on ESPN Radio’s national morning show. “It’s unacceptable and this is why in this country we are in the position that we are in as human beings, not only human beings, but as African Americans. Because we gloss over these sorts of things and act like it’s not that big of a deal.”

Now the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, Gruden claims he doesn’t have a “racial bone” in his body, in an attempt to move on from the scandal. But while Gruden finds himself shamed by a decade-old email, Johnson is reminding everyone he warned them about the disgraced head coach nearly 20-years ago.

“He’s a BAD PERSON. I tried to tell people this when I played for this man!” Johnson said. “But I was in the wrong. ‘Keyshawn’s just a spoiled brat. Keyshawn’s just a diva. Keyshawn just wants the football.’ But here we are now, however many years later and stuff is coming to the surface. I’m not gonna let it just disappear, because I was the bad guy.”

Last month, Johnson told USA Today he never had a “tumultuous relationship,” with Gruden, blaming the media for depicting their infamous feud as being bigger than it was. But during his Monday show on ESPN Radio, Johnson’s portrayal of Gruden was much more than a media narrative.

Watch above via ESPNews