Months ago, sports fans around the world were shocked, but probably not too surprised at the end of the day, when Donald Sterling was forced to sell the Los Angeles Clippers following leaked audio that had him making racist comments against African-Americans in a heated argument with his girlfriend. Now it looks like lightning has struck twice in the NBA, as the Atlanta Hawks will be sold after one of their owners’ own racially insensitive comments had become public knowledge.
Bruce Levenson, who has led the consortium of Atlanta Hawks owners for the past ten years, told NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Saturday that he plans to sell the team in the wake of a league investigation surrounding an email he had sent in 2012, where he had offered ideas on how to attract more white fans to the games. The email, which was sent in August 2012, contained several telling comments from Levenson, including a suggestion that African-American fans had “scared away” white fans, and another comment that insinuated that the Hawks don’t have enough “affluent black fans” to ensure success in season ticket sales.
Levenson had, quite interestingly, reported himself and informed the NBA about the email in July, and while it is not sure why he decided to self-report, many have speculated that this is because Sterling had claimed to have hired private investigators to prove that his racially insensitive behavior was not exactly unique among NBA owners.
In brief, the email suggested that Southern whites “simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority,” and that it would be best for the Hawks to hire white cheerleaders and pipe in “music familiar to a 40-year-old white guy.” He had also suggested that the Hawks’ kiss cam was “too black”, in another example of controversial comments stated on the email.