Wizards apologize for comparing team owner to Martin Luther King Jr.
Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the group that owns the Washington Wizards, Capitals and Mystics, did what many teams do in February: honor Black History Month with a social media campaign. They asked different people within the group -- staff members, players, coaches and even owner Ted Leonsis and mascot G-Wiz -- to share a quote from an African American pioneer they admired. They put that quote alongside one of their own in composite images released on this page and their social media channels.
A couple of them ... looked a little out of touch. Like this one of Leonsis and Martin Luther King Jr.
And this one of mascot G-Wiz and Benjamin D. Davis Jr.
Many were upset at the idea of the organization equating Civil Rights leaders with the team's owner and mascot.
DEADSPIN: "The Wizards' celebration of Black History Month is a little tone-deaf."
VICE: "It's the complete opposite of basically everything Martin Luther King, Jr. ever said or did, because the two men themselves are opposites, no matter how much Leonsis likes to believe otherwise."
YAHOO!: "At worst? This is the owner of a basketball and hockey team, someone who made most of his fortune in investing in AOL in its nascent days, piggybacking on Martin Luther King Jr. in order to win some weird strain of Facebook favor."
A Monumental Sports spokesman apologized for the photos when reached by SB Nation:
"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.
We may have missed the mark, and we apologize to those who were offended by the way this was presented."
The link to the campaign's landing page is still up, as is the picture of Leonsis and King on their Facebook page.
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