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Racist Email Forces Hawks Owner to Sell

Bruce Levenson is out.

Bruce Levenson is selling his controlling interest in the Atlanta Hawks after he self-reported an email he sent to the team’s co-owners and general manager in August 2012 that was filled with racially charged remarks. The NBA began an independent investigation, but Levenson notified NBA Commissioner Adam Silver of his decision to sell Saturday night, before the probe was completed. “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),” Levenson said in a statement released Sunday. “If you’re angry about what I wrote, you should be. I’m angry at myself, too. It was inflammatory nonsense.” Silver acknolwedged that Levenson’s remarks were unacceptable but praised him for taking responsibility for them. “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. It is the second time this year an NBA owner has sold his share of a team due to racist remarks—the first was Donald Sterling with the Los Angeles Clippers.