(AllHipHop News) Atlanta Hawks owner Bruce Levenson announced he was selling his share of the NBA franchise after admitting comments he wrote in a 2012 email were racially insensitive.
Levenson apologized for the document which included the co-founder of United Communications Group stating his concern about white residents not attending Hawks games because they were essentially too black.
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Levenson wrote in part:
My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a signficant season ticket base. Please dont get me wrong. There was nothing threatening going on in the arean back then. i never felt uncomfortable, but i think southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority. On fan sites i would read comments about how dangerous it is around philips yet in our 9 years, i don’t know of a mugging or even a pick pocket incident. This was just racist garbage. When I hear some people saying the arena is in the wrong place I think it is code for there are too many blacks at the games.
Some people have condemned Levenson as a racist. Others suggested that his email was just a business owner reflecting on the marketability of his product to a particular demographic.
Atlanta rapper Killer Mike falls in the second group. The Run The Jewels member told TMZ, while he viewed Levenson’s email as “crass,” the public should not be so quick to use the word “racist.”
“It’s not remotely racist at all. What I read was a business man trying to fill up his seats with the demographic that spends the most money,” said Mike.
He added, “We should save that outrage for a time when it’s really warranted.”
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