Another NBA Owner Wrong On Race?
COOPER: Well, today was certainly a wakeup call for anyone who still believes that professional sports exists on a separate plane from the real world. Somehow removed from the real world problems like domestic violence and racism. Exhibit A, today, Ray Rice, exhibit B, the case of Atlanta Hawks' majority owner Bruce Levenson. Like the L.A. Clippers' Donald Sterling he is in hot water for things he said about African- Americans. Unlike Donald Sterling he's selling his stake in the team without a fight. Also unlike Sterling, he's got some big named defenders including NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who joins us shortly for an exclusive interview. But first background tonight from Martin Savidge.</s>MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the e-mail this cost a team. In 2012 Atlanta Hawks majority owner Bruce Levenson fired off these insights on why the franchise wasn't attracting more affluent white season ticket holders. "Looking around It's 70 percent black," Levenson wrote. "My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites." He goes on, "I think southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or in a bar where they were in the minority." He says it bothered him every fan picked out for a contest is black and says, "I have even bitched the kiss cam is too black." For the NBA, it's another embarrassment as the league is still struggling to overcome the racially-laced diatribe of former Clippers owner Donald Sterling earlier this year. In fact, Levenson was one of Sterling's strongest critics speaking out to CNN's Wolf Blitzer.</s>BRUCE LEVENSON, ATLANTA HAWKS OWNER: Donald Sterling, was he said. I'm his partner. I can't be partners with somebody who shares those views.</s>SAVIDGE: Sunday Levenson issued an apology and announced that he's selling the team, dumping the PR nightmare into the lap of the Hawks' brand new CEO Steve Koonin. In an exclusive interview Koonin told me he was dumbfounded when he read the 2012 e-mail. (</s>On camera): That said business bigoted e-mail. And it is breathtakingly stupid as far as a business communication. What were your thoughts when you read it?</s>STEVE KOONIN, ATLANTA HAWS CEO: I couldn't believe it. I think you just said breathtakingly stupid. I think I had an audible gasp. And there are no words to describe, there's nothing but mortified and angry.</s>SAVIDGE (voice-over): Koonin told me the outrage came to light after Hawks general manager, Danny Ferry, made what was considered by some fellow front office managers as a racially insensitive remark and that Ferry has since been disciplined.</s>KOONIN: I have punished Mr. Ferry in excess of the findings. He and I have --</s>SAVIDGE (on camera): Punished in what way?</s>KOONIN: We're going to keep what that punishment is as a team private matter. That is the way that we feel is best to do it. But I can assure you we listened, we reacted and we've put a punishment that is appropriate, some will say it's too -- could say it's too harsh, some could say it's not harsh enough.</s>SAVIDGE (voice-over): An internal investigation was launched due to Ferry's remark and Levenson's bombshell e-mail was found. Attempts to reach Ferry have so far been unsuccessful. Koonin realized first he had to apologize to the fans and second face the team. (</s>On camera): Have you spoken to any of the team?</s>KOONIN: There was a meeting. I addressed them.</s>SAVIDGE: What was that like?</s>KOONIN: It was like walking into a funeral. These are young men who wear our city's name and our logo on their chest. They played for a team and they're supposed to be supported by their ownership and ownership failed in supporting them.</s>SAVIDGE (voice-over): CNN tried to speak to Levenson but he has yet to be seen publicly since the sale announcement. (</s>On camera): When was the last time you spoke to Bruce Levenson?</s>KOONIN: Yesterday.</s>SAVIDGE: What did you say?</s>KOONIN: I think it's best if you walk away.</s>SAVIDGE: And what did he say?</s>KOONIN: You're right.</s>SAVIDGE: Of course, all of this came out on Sunday, yesterday, the first day of the NFL season. So many people were focused on football, not on the NBA. So it's going to be interesting now that this information is coming out about this e-mail and what was said, what the reaction will be. It is likely to grow. Martin Savidge, CNN.</s>COOPER: Well, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed calls the Levenson e-mail reprehensible. A local pastor calls the remarks horrible and civil rights leader in Atlanta says they show that racism is alive and well in the city. NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he joins me now. He wrote in "TIME" magazine in a column, he wrote, "Atlanta Hawks controlling owner Bruce Levenson is no Donald Sterling. Nor is his e- mail racist. In fact his worst crime is misguided white guilt." He joins me now for an exclusive interview. Thanks for being with us. You say that Levenson is, quote, "a businessman asking reasonable questions about how to put customers in seats and that he was simply addressing a problem that seemed obvious to him." But he's talking about black people scaring away white people and white people feeling uncomfortable being at a bar with black people.</s>KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR, FORMER L.A. LAKERS PLAYER: Well, you know, what I see is that the whole idea of racism is a very uncomfortable subject. And it's very complex, it's emotional. It's hard to pin certain things down. How do you know how much guilt is affecting which certain person in what way. You know, you go through all types of weird scenarios. We're trying to figure these things out. And it's very difficult. And I think that in this case, Mr. Levenson should be given the benefit of the doubt because he was trying to assess how to run his business in a more efficient and profitable way. I don't think it had anything to do with him trying to keep blacks out of the arena where his team plays or in any way saying that black people were the problem.</s>COOPER: But isn't that what -- I mean, isn't that what he's saying? I mean, you can say this is a business decision, but he is trying to figure out how to get more white people to come in and fewer black people to come in. I mean, how to get white people or companies to buy season passes and to buy box seats. Isn't that automatically meaningless African-Americans?</s>ABDUL-JABBAR: Well, I think you want to get as many affluent people who can afford to buy season tickets to do so. And that will come from across the racial spectrum. I don't think that any one group is singled out there. You want to get as many affluent people as you can to support your team.</s>COOPER: But he is saying white people are scared -- he's saying white people are being scared away. He says the audience is 70 percent black. He says they need, you know, some white cheerleaders in there and less black people on the kiss cam.</s>ABDUL-JABBAR: I don't -- you know, I haven't heard his voice in all this. I'd really like to hear what he has to say because, you know, there are a lot of different ways to interpret this. And I would really -- I really feel that he deserves at least the chance to defend himself.</s>COOPER: Absolutely.</s>ABDUL-JABBAR: We can find out exactly what he was thinking and, you know, what he meant when he was saying those things.</s>COOPER: Is there anything in what you read, though, that makes you uncomfortable? Obviously we would love to hear from him. He hasn't made any public comments. I'm sure he's probably being advised by various PR people not to -- or to lay low for a while. But is there anything in those comments that as you read them that you thought, wow, that's -- I don't -- I mean, I understand that's a business decision, but fewer black people on the kiss cam?</s>ABDUL-JABBAR: I don't think that he is expressing any hatred for any racial group. I didn't see that. He might have -- the way things came out were very awkward and it's hard to figure out exactly what he's talking about because getting more people in the seats is a problem or an issue for anyone who owns a professional sports team. So one of the issues that this gentleman had to try to deal with was race. And again it's a very volatile and emotional issue, but I think he should get the benefit of the doubt and be given a chance to explain exactly what he was talking about.</s>COOPER: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, appreciate you being on. Thank you very much.</s>ABDUL-JABBAR: My pleasure.</s>COOPER: And people can check out your article at TIME.com. Let's dig deeper now with CNN political commentator and "New York Times" Charles Blow, back with us is senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin. Charles, what did you think of what Kareem said?</s>CHARLES BLOW, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, I have all the respect. I grew up watching Kareem. So I look for him as well as a sports star and even now as an elder statesman. But I cannot agree -- disagree more with what he's saying. We can't get a business waiver for bias. I don't even understand that. I don't even understand how you can read what Levenson has written there and not take away from that that he is thinking about, contemplating, placating unreasonable racist fear or discomfort around African-American people in the stands and how do you look at that and look at the history of this country and realize what kind of business interests have been used to propagate the most grotesque forms of racism in this country.</s>COOPER: Let me just play devil's advocate here because Kareem's not here on this. As a businessperson if you were saying, we need to fill more seat and why don't we have a greater more diversity in our audience, why don't we have big companies paying big money for box seats and things like that, maybe some people feel uncomfortable, maybe we need a greater diversity in our cheerleading staff, a greater diversity of those who appear on television on the kiss cam. Is that wrong?</s>BLOW: But dig down to what you're saying. Right? So the -- if you're saying that the reason that they won't do that is because there is a visceral reaction to the -- to black people and that we need to modify the people who come to our stadium to kind of appease this racist, visceral reaction that people are having, that is offensive in the highest order. This kind of business rationale. That's -- that's why we had segregated lunch counters is because people were uncomfortable or afraid of black people being next to them. That's why we had, you know -- a lot of the Jim Crow architecture is built around comforting white people so they did not have to be around black people and therefore they would stay redlining in neighborhoods is built around the same idea.</s>COOPER: Jeff, what do you make?</s>COOPER: On the side you were saying is we need to play a greater diversity in music, something that, you know, a guy in his 40s, you know, not so much hip-hop and gospel which is apparently what they were playing a lot of.</s>TOOBIN: You know, I was more sympathetic to what Kareem wrote in at TIME.com. Look, you know, like all businesses they want to diverse customer base. If you look at the Atlanta metropolitan area, most of the rich people, the people who can afford season tickets are white. How can we get more white people in the building, I think that's what he was concerned about. It was a legitimate way to get more people into the stadium. He expressed himself in a horrible way. It is appropriate that he's selling the team. I think Adam Silver who should be commissioner of baseball as well as basketball. He said at his first press conference, we are a league that is overwhelmingly black among the players and overwhelmingly white among the owners, so we need to be more sensitive than most on this and they are more sensitive and thus --</s>COOPER: Is it just a sensitivity issue?</s>BLOW: No, that's a problem to even phrase it that way. When you say the reason that you need to be more sensitive is because the more of your players are black, no you need to be more sensitive because that's the more humane thing to do. The humanity in us should dictate that we do not punish people or play to people on the basis of race. It shouldn't even be about what the composition of the players is.</s>COOPER: You have a lot to write in "The New York Times." Charles Blow, thank you, and Jeff Toobin as well. More breaking news tonight, the U.S. may have identified the masked man in the James Foley execution video. Is it is same terrorist seen in the ISIS video of another murdered American, Steven Sotloff. We'll talk to one of Sotloff's close friends about this new information and about his friend's remarkable life and career.