Hawks general manager Danny Ferry has no immediate plans to resign following racist comments he claims to have read during a conference call regarding potential free agent Luol Deng in June.
Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. wrote a letter to majority owner Bruce Levenson calling for him to ask for Ferry’s resignation or fire him for cause if he refused several days after the conference call with ownership and management.
In the call, which was recorded by Gearon Jr., Ferry was discussing positives and negatives of Deng and said “He has a little African in him. Not in a bad way, but he’s like a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back.” The letter states the Ferry completed the slur by describing the player as “a two-faced liar and cheat.”
The statement led to an independent internal investigation. During that process, an inflammatory email that Levenson wrote to Ferry, in part about the lack of whites at Philips Arena, was discovered. The email led to Levenson announcing Sunday that he would sell his interest in the team.
Ferry issued a statement Tuesday morning and said he spoke with Deng about the matter.
“In regards to the insensitive remarks that were used during our due diligence process, I was repeating comments that were gathered from numerous sources during background conversations and scouting about different players. I repeated those comments during a telephone conversation reviewing the draft and free agency process. Those words do not reflect my views, or words that I would use to describe an individual and I certainly regret it. I apologize to those I offended and to Luol, who I reached out to Monday morning.
“In terms of the email that Bruce sent, the situation is disturbing and disappointing on many levels and I understand Bruce’s words were offensive.
“I am committed to learning from this and deeply regret this situation. I fully understand we have work to do in order to help us create a better organization; one that our players and fans will be proud of, on and off the court, and that is where my focus is moving forward.”
As the Hawks search for a buyer for Levenson’s shares of the team, it is unclear how the organization will function with a co-owner that has called for the termination of its general manager.
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