Mark Cuban: 'I stand by my words'


Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban apologized to the family of slain South Florida teenager Trayvon Martin for referencing "a black kid in a hoodie" during a controversial, nuanced discussion about prejudices and bigotries.

Cuban made the apology Thursday afternoon and elaborated on his thoughts expressed during an interview Wednesday with Inc. magazine in a series of tweets.

Other than the apology to the Martin family, those tweets largely echoed Cuban's comments from the original interview, when he acknowledged having his own prejudices and bigotries and emphasized the importance of evolving as a society on such issues.

"In this day and age, this country has really come a long way putting any type of bigotry behind us, regardless of who it's toward," Cuban told Inc. magazine. "We've come a long way and with that progress comes a price. We're a lot more vigilant and we're a lot less tolerant of different views, and it's not necessarily easy for everybody to adapt or evolve.


Cuban unintentionally evoked memories of the 2012 death of Martin, an unarmed black teenager who was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and was shot to death by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood crime-watch volunteer who said he acted in self-defense and was acquitted by a jury. In the aftermath of that incident, LeBron James and Miami Heat players condemned the act by posting a photo of the entire team, all wearing hoodies, their heads bowed, their hands stuffed into their pockets.


On Monday, Sterling was charged with damaging the league with his racist comments, and he has until Tuesday to respond to the charge. If Sterling does not respond by then, that would be grounds for termination. Silver's decision of a lifetime ban for Sterling is subject to a vote by NBA owners on June 3, with the commissioner needing three-quarters of the votes to enforce his decision.


"There's no law against stupid," Cuban said when asked how to keep bigotry out of the NBA, according to the Tennessean. "I'm the one guy who says don't force stupid people to be quiet. I want to know who the morons are."

On the night before Silver's announcement of Sterling's lifetime ban, Cuban called Sterling's comments "abhorrent." However, he said that forcing Sterling to sell the Clippers would be a "very slippery slope."

Cuban pledged his full support of Silver's ruling after the fact, but he had been guarded on his comments on the subject since then until appearing at the GrowCo convention Wednesday, when he reportedly said that he hates that he might have to be hypocritical with his vote on the Sterling issue. The point Cuban attempted to make during his videotaped interview with Inc. magazine was the importance of helping people evolve with their prejudices and bigotries.


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