Back in early December, the Hawks—who have seemingly given up on the 2016-17 NBA season by working out a trade with the Cavaliers for Kyle Korver and entertaining offers for Paul Millsap—held a "Chalk Talk" event that allowed for about 200 season ticket holders to ask questions to members of Atlanta’s front office.
According to Deadspin, one of the Hawks employees in attendance was general manager Wes Wilcox, and he fielded questions about everything from Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer’s job status to the team’s lack of a veteran point guard. Fans were clearly pretty upset with the direction the team was taking this season, and they let it be known during the event.
Wilcox was determined not to lose his cool in the presence of fans, though. So he reportedly tried to calm everyone down by making a joke involving his wife and kids. "I know you guys may be angry with me," he apparently said, "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."
As you might imagine, that joke didn’t go over well with everyone in attendance, and one fan in particular, Clarenton Crawford, was so offended by it that he decided to do something about it. Crawford, a black man, and his wife Deborah were reportedly "livid," so he sent an email to Hawks CEO Steve Koonin to let him know that he thought what Wilcox said was unacceptable. In his email, Crawford said Wilcox's words "TOTALLY OFFENDED MY WIFE," and he asked for Koonin to take action against the GM.
Koonin reportedly responded with a pretty generic letter less than 10 minutes later that acknowledged Crawford’s concerns with the team but did not address what Wilcox said specifically. So that led to Crawford writing another letter to Koonin and letting him know that he and his wife were "very disappointed that you did not address the issue with the stereotypical comments that singled out Black Women." He called for the team to discipline Wilcox for what he said and mentioned that, if the Hawks chose to do nothing, he would reach out to the NBA directly.
After receiving the second email, Deadspinreports Koonin called Crawford. He also arranged for a sit-down meeting with Crawford and his wife. And during that meeting, which took place earlier this week, he apologized on behalf of Wilcox.
Wilcox also apologized for himself in a statement released to Deadspin on Friday. "At an early December chalk talk, I made a self-deprecating comment at my own expense regarding my family, which is multi-racial," he said. "This joke offended Mr. Crawford and his wife and for that, I apologize."
It’s worth noting that Wilcox is now the second Hawks GM to land in hot water as a result of a comment like this. Back in 2014, former Hawks GM Danny Ferry resigned after he made racially charged comments about Luol Deng during a conference call. At around the same time, former Hawks owner Bruce Levenson was also found to have sent out a racist email that suggested white fans were more important than black fans to the Hawks.
The Hawks and the NBA have not released any further comment concerning Wilcox.
