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EA Sports removing Jon Gruden from Madden NFL 22

The disgraced former Raiders coach will be replaced with a generic likeness.

Bree Fowler Senior Writer
Bree Fowler writes about cybersecurity and digital privacy. Before joining CNET she reported for The Associated Press and Consumer Reports. A Michigan native, she's a long-suffering Detroit sports fan, world traveler, wannabe runner and champion baker of over-the-top birthday cakes and all-things sourdough.
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EA Sports is scrubbing Jon Gruden from Madden NFL 22.

 Getty

EA Sports is removing former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden from its Madden NFL 22 video game.

The video game company said in a tweet earlier this week that due to the circumstances surrounding Gruden's resignation on Monday it would replace him with a generic likeness through a title update in the next few weeks.

Gruden's resignation came after The New York Times detailed emails in which he had made homophobic and misogynistic remarks, following an earlier report of racist statements about a union leader.

One of the higher-profile coaches in the league, Gruden won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before becoming a top analyst for ESPN. He returned to the NFL in 2018 to lead the Raiders, which he had coached years before.

According to the gaming news website Kotaku, which reported the removal earlier this week, in addition to re-creating NFL players, Madden NFL 22 shows each team's head coach on the sidelines and cuts to them frequently throughout games. They're also part of the game setup process.