The following is the two-page letter written by Hawks’ co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. to majority owner Bruce Levenson in June requesting that GM Danny Ferry be asked to resign or fired for cause for racial slurs made during a conference call:
To: Bruce Levenson
From: SSG Group, LLC
Date: June 12, 2014
Re: Danny Ferry
As you know, last Friday there was a conference call attended by numerous persons including Hawks management and ownership. We believe that you and Ed Peskowitz were on the call, but we are not sure whether you were listening the whole time. During the call, which was recorded so that notes could be made for our partners unable to participate live, our GM Danny Ferry discussed player personnel issues at some length.
With respect to one potential free agent, a highly-regarded African-American player and humanitarian, Ferry talked about the player’s good points, and then went on to describe his negatives, stating that “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.” Ferry completed the racial slur by describing the player (and impliedly, all persons of African descent) as a two-faced liar and cheat....
