Racial Comments Pushes Bruce Levenson to Sell Stake in Atlanta Hawks
- Written by Ruth J. Morrison
Racially insensitive comments made by Atlanta Hawks majority owner, Bruce Levenson, pushed him to sell his stake in the Atlanta-based, NBA team.
Levenson self-reported to the NBA that he sent a racist e-mail in August 2012 and will sell his interest in the team.
The e-mail, to Hawks President Danny Ferry, details Levenson's belief that the Hawks' fan base was too heavily African-American.
"I wrote an e-mail two years ago that was inappropriate and offensive," Levenson said in a Hawks news release Sunday morning. "I trivialized our fans by making clichéd assumptions about their interests (i.e., hip hop vs. country, white vs. black cheerleaders, etc.) and by stereotyping their perceptions of one another (i.e., that white fans might be afraid of our black fans). By focusing on race, I also sent the unintentional and hurtful message that our white fans are more valuable than our black fans."
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