Bruce Levenson has said he is going to sell the Atlanta Hawks because he’s sent an e-mail that is racist during his tenure as the NBA team’s owner.
“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 e-mail, according to TMZ. “I want some white cheerleaders … I have even bitched that the kiss cam is too black.”
He’s apologized for the comments.
However, Killer Mike says the e-mail is not racist. He conveyed his thoughts on the matter with the following Twitter posts.
Earlier this year, Donald Sterling was banned from life from the NBA due to racist comments he made on the phone with his girlfriend.
(September 8, 2014)
UPDATE: Killer Mike has added to his commentary regarding Bruce Levenson’s comments about race, according to TMZ.
“It’s not remotely racist at all,” Mike says. “What I read was a business man trying to fill up his seats with the demographic that spends the most money.”
Mike also made a note of his own business and how he understands the need for diversity.
“I own a barber shop,” he explains. “I make it a point for people to know I cut white people’s hair. If white people 30 to 55 aren’t coming to Hawks games, you have to do whatever you need to do to get them there.”
mike – wake up.
the email was certainly racist. you really need to develop a more comprehensive understanding of what racism is. his email was riddled with racist overture. black people will never move forward because so many of us defend those who subjugate and subordinate us
that email was totally racist. He even said “blacks cheer less than whites”. When you single people out soley based on race, that’s called, racism. Duh. Mike your comments on Ferguson were great however. Love your commentary. I appreciate trying to rise above race, but you can’t ignore white flight and stereotyping of black people.
Killer Mike has white fans who support his music so he has to throw them a bone every once in a while.
LOL! I’m white, that shit was funny.
“throw them a bone” lmfaooo
He’s been wanting to sell the team though, I wouldn’t be surprised if he leaked those emails ever since Ballmer paid 2 billion for the clippers. He was gonna sell for 300 million a few years ago, now that he knows billionaires will pay a ridiculous amount for a shitty franchise, he about to cash out. 1 billion for the hawks.
Anyway, Seattle might get a new team this year.
nigga fuck seattle i heard the la pizza loca owner will buy the whole franchise
lmao @ u niggas acting like bruce levenson is the sole owner of the hawks
the franchise got at least 40 owners. he’s just giving up his share.
y’all ATL niggas better start showing up or your shitty franchise will go to Mexico City lmao
Bruce Levenson may not harbor any hatred for black people, but the fact that he’s willing to change things to make racist people more comfortable says a lot about his character. He claims he doesn’t like racists, and even spoke against Donald Sterling, yet he’s okay with rich racist people going to his games… Even going as far as making plans to dwindle down his black audience so these racists will feel at home.
Unfortunately, there are a many Bruce Levenson’s in America. People who see racism and have the power to make a difference, but ultimately decide the pay check is more important than equality. This benefits them in the short term, but continues to cripple blacks development in the long term. I’m not impressed
real talk, exactly. I guess its education. What people don’t realize is that racism is and indoctrinated infrastructure. Society has been brainwashed by our ancestors. It isn’t any of our fault, but we all must work to undo this thinking.
So, he’s talking like a businessman while taking race into account as to why his business isn’t bringing him the profit he feels it should and that’s racist?
Black people in the south, where I live, aren’t consistently supportive.
Even the more “integrated” cities, have black sides/ white sides and black schools/ white schools.
The uneasiness of certain white people is almost palpable until they have interacted with you long enough to see that you don’t fit that “thug” stereotype that comes with your skin color. Which lets you know the level of their exposure to the other side of town because we have several areas that support that stereotype and the differences should be obvious.
This man just sent out an email stating how the south is and how to improve his business within that environment. Nothing about that screams “bigot” to me.
Nah, the tone and connotation is clear in the email. There are plenty of teams in majority white cities that aren’t supported by whites and it has nothing to do with black population. No stereotype “comes” with colour. It was put on that colour through indoctrination and marketing. Too much to explain, but the fact that you gotta make sure someone doesn’t fit a stereotype is a huge problem. So is people of colour deciding their lives one way or another, based on said stereotypes is also a huge problem
Seems like he saw what Sterling got for the Clippers and wants to see what he can get for the Hawks, since he basically snitched on himself.
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I been to close to 100 Hawks games. I’ve been going since the 90s’. My bruh’s mom used to work at CNN and we used to go to games for free all the time.
First off the email wasn’t racist. 2nd off dude was stating the facts of the league and his arena. Philips is black. White folks don’t go and the arena doesn’t have many kids of either race. The arena demographic is basically the club demographic. 18-40 year old blacks. And us blacks don’t buy gear like that so he is right when talking about the sales.
One thing though that he didn’t address is that ATL is full of fags. Plus it’s a transient city. Especially for blacks. Most blacks here are from up north (NY/tri state area) or the midwest (mad Ohio ninjas here now). So a lot of the Philips crowd aren’t Hawks fans to begin with.
The father and son comment was sort of racist but to me the NBA is not a take your kids to the game sport. Games are played mostly on school nights and get out at 11PM so it’s not a family friendly live sport.
The Hawks fan base sucks. ATL sucks as a sports city on a whole. The most popular team here is the Georgia Bulldogs.
Some good points, but thats why it is racist, cause most of that shit doesn’t have anything to do with race. Besides, isn’t Atlanta majority black? Its kinda ridiculous to feel the games would be anything but majority black. That’s what bothers me most, its almost like apartheid, trying to counter the facts of demographics.
The owner considers his remarks racially offensive but Killer Mike doesent which shows you the difference between a Billionaire owner of a sports franchise and and underground rapper who named himself “killer”.
White folks stay winnin.
The name means kill a microphone, he destroys mics rapping and talking.
You’re nothing but a loser and you know it.
yeah, you know it!
The Hawks have had the worst fan bases in the NBA for the last 7 years at least. I remember Josh Smith complaining about it. That his home games are like away games.
But yeah, Seattle is gonna get pimped out again lmfao
Dominique Wilkins in his prime was wayyyy better than Jordan. But injuries derailed his career. Now let the MJ dickryders have a field day.
lol good one little dude
Comment of the day
Atlanta lost their southern hospitality and gave the thrown to Waka Flocka, Gucci, etc.. I think Killer Mike should be teaching these ignorant fools in Atlanta because they dropped the ball big time, the kids in Atlanta were abandoned by the Dungeon Family and now the youngsters lost all respect and Killer Mike need to change his name to Mike Knowledge or something and stop adding fuel to the fire.. #ShameOnAtl #IgnorantATL #ShortBusShorties #Confused #Slaves #ShameOnYouMike
Kill A(er) Mike(microphone)
if one can’t see it one should not be representing the culture of Hip Hop
@anonymous Stop dikriding ussy.. It reads Killer Mike and his comment was made to early because he didn’t peep the meat of the story and after he hears what the owner really said he won’t feel the same, trust..
yeah I get that feeling J, real talk. The full story is a different situation than what the headlines indicate. He was caught, it isn’t voluntary.
it reads killer to squares
if it was Kil-A-Mic you bitches would still get it wrong
dickride that pussy
Killer Mike with real talk and Bruce Levenson with 100x more of the Hawks than human dogshit Jay-Z ever ‘owned’ of the fucking Nets.
Fuck you white racist subhuman piece of dog shit and fuck that devil Levenson too
killer mike, lord jamar, scar face and many more all are against u white scums
black racists commenting on white racists, yawn
It’s not as if he isn’t telling the truth though. White people won’t go to a place in Atlanta filled with blacks. I live outside the city, anytime you get a large number of blacks in one place, even wealthy ones, the property value goes down because white people will sell at a loss just to be somewhere else. It leaks over to things like the Hawks, they won’t go there because it’s an almost totally black crowd and they don’t want to be there. And again, he’s 100% right, there aren’t enough blacks to make that team profitable.
just cause thats the reality doesn’t mean its right. if white ppl are scared, that’s their fucking problem. black people should be more scared of white people given experience.
Well then that’s Levenson’s fault for not stacking the team with star players. Winning would attract everybody, but when you don’t maintain the quality of your franchise, these little racial thoughts come to the surface. Black people are obviously paying money to go to these games so if there’s a smaller white crowd there, who gives a shit? There are other sporting events besides Hawk games.
This is the problem. Nobody complained to Levenson to say they were feeling unsafe. This is just his damn opinion. Danny Ferry is a pu**sy as well. Did you hear the comments he made about Deng? “He has some good qualities, but he has some African in him.” WTF is that bullshit
Atlanta is a black city with money…Period Point Blank! I make no excuses for Whites…Let them tell it they are scared of their own shadow….If you aren’t bogus or no your ancestors were bogus then there is no need to be in fear….TME (Too Many Excuses)!!!!
Killer Mike been a CLOWN ever since he went back and forth with me on Twitter in 2011
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that was the highlight of your life doe
I THOUGHT KILLER MIKE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SOME SORT OF HIP HOP INTELLECTUAL… I COULDN’T UNDERSTAND ANY OF THAT WRITING!
I’m starting to realize Killer Mike is full of shit. I know he’s trying real hard to prove to everyone he’s a Libertarian and thinks he’s full of knowledge because he watches some Alex Jones videos, but he’s really dense.
The problem was that owner didn’t realize how ignorant his comments were and sent them out in a BUSINESS email. Don’t dickride Dominique, the guy isn’t a legend, he was mainly known as a good dunker.
But keep on preaching, Killer Mike. We know….buy more guns. Got it, Killer. Oh, right…you “kill microphones”…I’m sure that’s what you wanted people to think when you first used that name.
Gotta be deaf not to hear his shit is afrocentric
Man, that was boring and convoluted. No one cares what you think about Killer Mike. You’re just some rap nerd who probably thinks Aesop Rock is better than Jay-Z. Keep sucking dicks.
lol @ alex jones videos
I usually agree with Killa Mike regarding topics of racial prejudice and what not, but this time my friend you are dead wrong. How do you figure that Levenson’s comments are not racist when his arguments are not even based on facts? His comments are based on his ignorance. He does not even have proof from white fans that they feel uncomfortable around the black fans. There hasn’t been any instances of white fans being robbed or threatened by black fans. This is just Levenson’s own opinion based on his ignorance and racist attitude. Too many black cheerleaders? Too little white fans? No you know how a lot of black people feel the majority of the time. I’m from T.O and I’m a minority almost everytime I’m in public damnit! GTFOH with that bullshit
It’s funny how when someone says something you dont agree with he’s a clown or a fraud or uncle tom. mike bigga lives and is from atl. i dont think most of you are and he sees this.
Thank god we’re not.
@Anonymous You jealous over that? Man I got a GALLERY of twitter arguments that I been in with your favorite rappers and I didn’t even put that out there. They been trying to keep me out the game because they know what I do. My most recent one was Talib Kweli which is out there CLOWN.
Google Exclusive King Of Age!!! and watch that music video. Not Going To Saturate You With Guns, Drugs & Women. Morals Is Fresh!!!
ahahahahahahahahahaha so youre glorifying your career as a professional troll….
does that come with benefits bruh?
and your music is whats keeping you out the game not your twitter trolling lmao morals is fresh!!!
Killer Mike I respect you as an MC but this opinion is not cool! Dude is racist and he knows it…Hell many whites are racist but they just aren’t in the public eye…I make NO EXCUSES for white people because they know EXACTLY what the hell they are saying and doing….There is too much money floating around in the A and I have personally witnessed plenty of caucasians at the Hawks game having a good damn time with no incident…Being originally from Chicago I have experienced racism at its finest so you can’t let these assholes have any more excuses to be fearful of us then what they already use!!!
There is nothing racist bout that email at all, you a whinin ass bitch
^ Read again Anonymous. That shit is clear out racists. It doesn’t matter what color comes to the game but he look around and pointed out saying look at all these blacks coming to the game only concert here is either hip hop or gospel. Rappers are not the truth they preach that real shit but act a different person by being a yes man type of nigga. @Money First I agree I live in Chicago and it is VERY segregated. A black male can’t even walk up North without getting stared at.
“Seems like he saw what Sterling got for the Clippers and wants to see what he can get for the Hawks, since he basically snitched on himself.”
That’s what I thought too, dude is mos def trying to cop out
His e-mail don’t actually put me like I’m feeling like I want to go on the block and sell drugs.
what do these people have in common?
They’re all fucking has been’s who used to work for white execs, cash their checks, and shuck and jive for the MTV/BET crowds.
Killer Mike, Lord Jamar, Scarface, Lauryn Hill says fuck white people
Lauryn Hill? LMAO nigga there’s a video of her thrashing Jeru the Damaja for exposing his five percenter beliefs, how the hell can she be racist???
Killer Mike needs to speak about the disrespect about the African comment, but he can’t relate to West African culture and this is why we here his American perspective.. 1 foot in 1 foot out, can’t do both Mike..
Wrong.
hear*
Killer Mike your constant defending of rat TI and this comment..makes you a SUCKER. YOU ARE NOT ABOUT BLACK POWER SO SHUT YOUR FAT MOUTH. You don’t like what I said, I used my real name and you can Google me and I’ll meet your fat ass wherever. Time for real ones to stand up because all you industry Negroes ain’t shit.
Stfu fake azz prison bitch
I see you Googled him (killer mike is that you, possibly?) Now contact his publishing company and holla at him (I bet you won’t KILLER lol)
There are plenty of minorities who blow thousands on season tickets to all sporting events. The reason this dipshit said what he did cause he knows the team has no stars, and aren’t winning shit, so he blames the fans. Without them, the team would go broke with no revenue coming in. It’s racist and stupid at the same time.