Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban got in some hot water today for saying that, beyond Donald Sterling, everyone has their own little inner prejudices that they just instinctively, irrationally act on. He admitted, “If I see a black kid in a hoodie on my side of the street, I’ll move to the other side of the street.” It’s things like that, he said, that make everyone a little prejudices. Throughout the course of the day, Cuban exchanged words with some critics on Twitter:
. @sportsrapport @jasonrmcintyre you wrote about something I said without knowing what I said. Is that how you work?
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
(This is the article in question.)
. @Locs_n_Laughs you have no idea what I actually said, do you?
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
. @bomani_jones the point was that before we can help others deal w racism we have to be honest about ourselves.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
. @bomani_jones you're trying to make this about a Hoodie. You know damn well its not. It's about whatever makes You feel threatened
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
However, it was that particular comment about a hoodie that prompted, later in the day, an apology from Cuban to Trayvon Martin‘s family.
P/1: In hindsight I should have used different examples. I didn't consider the Trayvon Martin family, and I apologize to them for that.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
P/2: beyond apologizing to the Martin family, I stand by the words and substance of the interview.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
P/3: I think that helping people improve their lives, helping people engage with people they may fear or may not understand,
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
P/4: and helping people realize that while we all may have our prejudices and bigotries
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
P/5: we have to learn that it's an issue that we have to control, that it's part of my responsibility as an entrepreneur to try to solve it
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
When the Donald Sterling mess first broke, Cuban commented at the time that kicking him out could turn out to be a “slippery slope” for the NBA.
[h/t TMZ]
[featured image via Keith Allison]
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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac
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