Mark Cuban owner of the Dallas Mavericks apologized Thursday to Trayvon Martin’s family for his choice of words in a videotaped interview addressing bigotry and prejudice. Cuban revealed some of his own prejudices in the interview with Inc. magazine. He said he believes everyone has “prejudices and bigotries” on some level.
Cuban said in the Inc. interview, “We’re all prejudiced in one way or the other. If I see a black kid in a hoodie and it’s late at night, I’m walking to the other side of the street. And if on that side of the street, there’s a guy that has tattoos all over his face — white guy, bald head, tattoos everywhere — I’m walking back to the other side of the street. And the list goes on of stereotypes that we all live up to and are fearful of.”
Cuban apologized via twitter…
“In hindsight I should have used different examples,” Cuban wrote. “I didn’t consider the Trayvon Martin family, and I apologize to them for that.”
Martin was the black Florida teen who was shot and killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in February 2012. Martin was wearing a hooded sweatshirt — commonly called a “hoodie” — that night, and that particular piece of clothing became a rallying cry for those who demanded justice.
Zimmerman was eventually acquitted.
