Report: Hawks GM Wes Wilcox made joke stereotyping black women at fan event

Hawks general manager Wes Wilcox made a joke that stereotyped black women as argumentative at a recent event for ticket holders, Deadspin reports.

Wilcox sat down for an open ended Q&A session with about 200 season ticket holders and team club members and was grilled on some of the team’s personnel decisions. Multiple fans expressed frustration with the organization’s leadership and roster construction

“I know you guys may be angry with me, but I’m used to it because I have a black wife and three mixed kids, so I’m used to people being angry and argumentative,” Wilcox reportedly said.

Deadspin’s account of the comments came from two people who were present, one being season ticket holder Clarenton Crawford, who proceeded to write an angry email to team CEO Steve Koonin. Crawford reiterated many of his frustrations about the team’s on-court product, including lobbying for Mark Jackson as head coach, and then ended his note expressing his and his wife’s grievances over Wilcox’s comments, adding that Wilcox immediately asked another white team employee if his joke was okay to make.

Crawford, who is black, was upset also due to the Hawks’ recent history — two years ago, former GM Danny Ferry was found to have made private comments about Luol Deng connecting his African heritage to his character in a negative manner, followed by a separate revelation that former owner Bruce Levenson sent an email that suggested the team’s white fans were more important than their black fans. In the aftermath of those controversies, Ferry resigned, and Levenson sold the team. 

Wilcox and the Crawfords later had a sit-down meeting with senior vice president Nzinga Shaw, who was brought in as the league’s first diversity officer after Atlanta’s previous scandals. Wilcox apologized in a statement released to Deadspin:

“At an early December chalk talk, I made a self-deprecating comment at my own expense regarding my family, which is multi-racial. This joke offended Mr. Crawford and his wife and for that, I apologize.”