Atlanta Hawks General Manager Danny Ferry is under fire for making racially-charged comments about NBA star Luol Deng‘s free agency, in a conference call.
The team’s minority co-owner Michael Gearon sent a letter to the controlling owner, Bruce Levenson, requesting Ferry’s resignation or firing. In the letter, which was authenticated by two people familiar with the case, Gearson detailed what happened on the conference call when Ferry described Deng as “a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back.”
“[The comments] were not from a private conversation — they were in a business environment on a business matter in front of a dozen or more people,” Gearon wrote. “If Ferry would make such a slur in a semi-public forum, we can only imagine what he has said in smaller groups or to individuals.”
On Monday, USA TODAY Sports reported Ferry was reading from a profile report by internal and external sources describing Deng as “a good guy overall. But he is not perfect. He’s got some African in him. And I don’t say that in a bad way.”
Gearon wrote, “Ferry completed the racial slur by describing the player (and implicitly all persons of African-descent) as a two-faced liar and cheat.”
Ferry apologized to Deng’s agent, Ron Shade. Deng, a former Chicago Bull of nine years who was recently traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers then the Miami Heat, is known as one of the league’s good guys. The 29-year-old All-Star was awarded the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award.
Ferry, 47, released a statement early Tuesday, stating he was only repeating comments gathered by the team.