Hawks send open letter of apology to fans, city

The Atlanta Hawks released an open letter of apology to fans and city of Atlanta on Saturday, saying the organization “did not do the right thing” to correct racially inflammatory words and innuendos “over a period of years.”

The apology, signed by CEO Steve Koonin, was released one day after the team announced that general manager Danny Ferry was taking an indefinite leave of absence following his racially charged comments about Luol Deng.

Last Sunday, co-owner Bruce Levenson announced he’d sell his controlling share of the team following the release of his racially inflammatory comments in an e-mail to Ferry and others.

“We are very sorry,” Koonin said in the letter. “Over the course of the last week, the Hawks have let down our players, our employees, our fans and the city we love. Our shortcomings have been broadly shared — including how we have failed to operate well internally and externally. It has been humbling and, while we have read, seen and come to know many things about ourselves, our learnings have just begun.”

Koonin said failures were not limited to those incidents. “We know enough today, based on investigations conducted by the league, by external legal counsel on behalf of the team, and information that has appeared in the media, that our shortcomings are beyond a single e-mail, a single person or a single event. ... The Hawks must own these shortcomings and failures.”