Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban stirred up some serious drama due to some controversial statements he made during a recent interview with Inc. Magazine, when he remarked on prejudices he has against people with certain stereotypical appearances. Mark made some eyebrow raising comments on race when he was asked about the Donald Sterling controversy. He has since received a heavy load of backlash and spawned thousands of responses on Twitter, especially due to his comment on how he would react if he saw a Black kid wearing a hoodie.
"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," Cuban stated in the interview, which was released on Wednesday. "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."
While he admitted to having prejudices, he believes that every human operates on a daily basis battling with, or accepting, their own prejudices as well.
"I know that I'm not perfect. While we all have our prejudices and bigotries, we have to learn that it's an issue that we have to control, that it's part of my responsibility as an entrepreneur to try to solve it, not just to kick the problem down the road."
Mark Cuban's intended message was that everyone needs to be honest with themselves about their own prejudices before they can really try to tackle the larger problems that racism brings. He defended his comments on Twitter and explained to one user in particular that his "hoodie" comment was only made in regards to his own personal fears, and thus inspire others to reflect on what they are afraid of when it comes to interactions with people of varying races.
Despite explaining his intentions, Twitter has erupted with waves of people chiming in on the subject.
Check out Mark Cuban's defense of his Inc. Magazine comments, along with some of the many Twitter reactions in the slide above.
Source: Inc.com
