The Washington Wizards raised some eyebrows last weekend when they capped their “Inspire” social media campaign — the team’s chosen method of celebrating Black History Month — by posting a somewhat offputting split-screen image of owner Ted Leonsis alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on their official Facebook page:
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After plenty of people, including a number of media outlets, pointed out the awkward and odd juxtaposition of arguably the greatest civil rights leader in American history’s advocacy for “infinite hope” with a white multimillionaire describing his approach to entrepreneurship — among a number of others, including lining up Benjamin Davis, one of the Tuskegee Airmen and the first African-American general officer in the U.S. Air Force, next to team mascot G-Wiz — the Wizards on Tuesday issued a statement on the kerfuffle:
Throughout Black History Month we ran an “Inspire” campaign. We asked a variety of Wizards, Capitals and Mystics players and staff to share who inspired them. We asked them for a favorite quotation and then created a composite image that was half the player/staff member and half the person they admired. We released one composite image a day throughout February in an attempt to honor those whom our staff had identified as heroes. We intended this as a way to celebrate Black History Month and focus on the many important contributions by African-Americans to American history and culture. On a personal level, it was a way to share thoughts on African-American historical figures whom we admire http://www.nba.com/wizards/bhm-2015. We may have missed the mark, and we apologize to those who were offended by the way this was presented.
More a “look over the whole body of work”/”sorry, not sorry” sort of thing than an actual apology — and the Wiz have left up the King/Leonsis joint quote image — but the issue’s been addressed, I guess. Okey-doke.
The Wizards, who dropped a 97-92 decision to the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday, have lost seven of their last eight games and 12 of their last 15 during a confounding stretch that’s seen them fall from early-season dark-horse contenders in the Eastern Conference to just 1 1/2 games up on the No. 6-seeded Milwaukee Bucks.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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