Gruden unboxing video

[Mr. 131]

Yeah, he talked like guys talk in private conversations.

I never argued it wasn't inflammatory. People have really strong reactions to a ton of nonsense.
Calling someone ugly is inflammatory.
Calling someone a pussy is inflammatory.
Calling a gay person queer should not be inflammatory, but you know, of course it was going to be.

I am arguing that it doesn't deserve any controversy whatsoever. There wouldn't be an NFL if that standard was applied to everyone. There wouldn't be most good things (NBA, MLB, music, movies, etc.).

Honestly, I agree with the reality you are describing for the most part, and I'm not trying to virtue signal - but calling a gay person "queer" is absolutely problematic depending on how it's used.

The word “queer” carries very different weight depending on who uses it and how. For decades it was a slur against people, but many in the gay community have since reclaimed it as a positive or inclusive identity term—when a gay man says “queer” or “queer community,” it’s about self-description and solidarity.

When Jon Gruden used “queer,” he wasn’t naming his own identity or affirming anyone else; he was drawing on the word’s history as an insult. That’s the key difference: one use empowers, the other demeans.

Two things can be true here: we live in a knee jerk society that punishes people too much when they make mistakes, AND we have historically been absolutely shitty to one another and it's ok to try to do better now.