Months after former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling drew fire for his racist comments, the NBA finds itself in a similar controversy.
On Sunday, news broke that Atlanta Hawks co-owner Bruce Levenson decided to sell his shares after self-reporting a racist email that he sent two years ago; now Hawks general manager Danny Ferry is in hot water for comments that he made.
Ferry received undisclosed discipline by team CEO Steve Koonin after making inappropriate comments about NBA star Luol Deng during a June conference call with members of the ownership team, ESPN reported on Tuesday (September 9). During the call, where team officials discussed the possibility of signing Deng as a free agent, Ferry said that the two-time all-star “has a little African in him.”
He went on to try to justify the comment. “Not in a bad way, but he’s like a guy who would have a nice store out front and sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back,” Ferry said during the call.
Atlanta’s WSB-TV obtained a letter from Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr., which detailed the incident. Gearon went on to say that he and the other co-owners were appalled by the comment; in his letter he recommended that Ferry be fired or asked to resign. It was during the investigation of Ferry’s comments that the Hawks uncovered Levenson’s email, where he stated that the majority black crowd at Hawks games in Atlanta scared off white fans.
Ferry apologized on Tuesday, but didn’t completely own up to his comments, instead he said that he was repeating what he heard from others.
“In regards to the insensitive remarks that were used during our due diligence process, I was repeating comments that were gathered from numerous sources during background conversations and scouting about different players,” he said in a statement released by the Hawks.
“I repeated those comments during a telephone conversation reviewing the draft and free agency process. Those words do not reflect my views, or words that I would use to describe an individual and I certainly regret it. I apologize to those I offended and to Luol, who I reached out to Monday morning.”
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