Hawks Owner Bruce Levenson Selling Controlling Interest

Thomas Northcut/Thinkstock(ATLANTA) — Atlanta Hawks co-owner Bruce Levenson is selling controlling interest of the team, the NBA announced on Sunday.

Levenson reported to the NBA in July that he wrote an email in August 2012 that he called “inappropriate and offensive.” The league commenced an independent investigation into the comments.

“Over the past several years, I’ve spent a lot of time grappling with low attendance at our games and the need for the Hawks to attract more season ticket holders and corporate sponsors,” Levenson said in a statement. “Over that time, I’ve talked with team executives about the need for the Hawks to build a more diverse fan base that includes more suburban whites, and I shared my thoughts on why our efforts to bridge Atlanta’s racial sports divide seemed to be failing.”

“In trying to address those issues, I wrote an e-mail two years ago that was inappropriate and offensive,” he said. “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.”

“If you’re angry about what I wrote, you should be. I’m angry at myself, too. It was inflammatory nonsense,” Levenson wrote. “We all may have subtle biases and preconceptions when it comes to race, but my role as a leader is to challenge them, not to validate or accommodate those who might hold them.”

Levenson notified NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Saturday night of his decision to sell controlling interest of the team.

“I’m truly embarrassed by my words in that e-mail, and I apologize to the members of the Hawks family and all of our fans,” Levenson said.

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