NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced Sunday that Atlanta Hawks owner Bruce Levenson will sell his controlling interest in the team after self-reporting an email he wrote in August 2012 that contained racially offensive comments.
Levenson made the league aware of the email in July and an independent investigation was started. In a statement, Levenson said the email he sent to co-owners and general manager Danny Ferry was about how to increase fan attendance at Hawks games and ways to improve Atlanta's racial sports divide.
"In trying to address those issues, I wrote an e-mail two years ago that was inappropriate and offensive," Levenson said in the statement. "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."
With this new revelation in the wake of the racial controversy by former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, it raises a question as to whether all NBA owners need to be vetted by the league. The Rev. Al Sharpton released a statement Sunday calling for just that, saying, "The announcement by Bruce Levenson is welcomed and appropriate by those of us in the civil rights community, that raised the issue of Donald Sterling's need to be removed, and that other owners must be held accountable."
Levenson notified Silver of his intention to sell on Saturday evening.
"I commend Mr. Levenson for self-reporting to the league office, for being fully cooperative with the league and its independent investigator, and for putting the best interests of the Hawks, the Atlanta community, and the NBA first," Silver said in a statement.
The Hawks have to compete in the Atlanta market that also includes NFL, MLB and strong college football fan bases. Levenson, who has owned the Hawks since 2004, said in the email that "southern whites" were uncomfortable at games.
"My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a significant season ticket base," the email stated. Levenson said Hawks crowds are 70 percent black, "southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority."
"If you're angry about what I wrote, you should be," Levenson said in the statement. "I'm angry at myself, too. It was inflammatory nonsense."
Atlanta CEO Steve Koonin will oversee all team operations for now.
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