Featured Post

Click Here for Excerpts (and Reviews) for New Book

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Hawks Owner To Sell After Racist E-mail

Just happening.  Yeah, he "self-reported" but probe was underway.  AP on the email:
In the email sent in August 2012, Levenson shared his observations of the fan experience at Hawks games. He said he concluded "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," Levenson said in the email released Sunday by the Hawks.
"Please don't get me wrong. There was nothing threatening going on in the arena 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."
Levenson said Hawks crowds are 70-percent black, the team's cheerleaders are black and hip-hop music was played.
"Then I start looking around at other arenas," Levenson said. "It is completely different."

Though he said he disagreed with the conclusion, he said he told team executives to add white cheerleaders and music "familiar to a 40-year-old white guy."
Added Levenson in the email: "I have even bitched that the kiss cam is too black."

No comments: