Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton on Saturday called on the NBA to close its investigation into the Phoenix Suns and remove majority owner Robert Sarver — or provide a clear timeline for a decision soon. If not, Sharpton said, he could demonstrate in Phoenix.
“The owner of the Suns was exposed in an ESPN story last November — how Sarver, the main owner of the Phoenix Suns, was making all these racist and misogynistic statements. [the NBA] said they were going to investigate it,” Sharpton said at the New York headquarters of the National Action Network, a civil rights organization he founded in 1991. what to come forward?
“I hung up [Friday] in the NBA that we want them to close the investigation and remove [Sarver] or let us know the schedule by agreement.”
The National Action Network plans to hold its annual convention April 6-9 in New York.
“We will not allow people to influence the culture of the NFL or the NBA, insult us and act like it is acceptable behavior,” Sharpton said. “They think that because it was November, everyone forgot about it and that’s why we wanted to put that pressure on. That’s right, the Phoenix Suns.
NBA spokesman Mike Bass told ESPN Saturday that the investigation, which is being handled by law firm Wachtell Lipton, “is ongoing and will take the time it takes to complete a thorough and comprehensive review of this matter.”
Buss said there would be no potential action from the NBA until the investigation was completed.
The NBA launched an investigation into the Suns and Sarver in early November 2021, hours after ESPN released its story, based on interviews with over 70 current and former employees, which included accusations of racism and misogyny on a sometimes hostile and toxic workplace. in Phoenix during Sarver’s 17-year tenure.
Sarver denied most of the allegations detailed in the ESPN article.
Since then, lawyers for New York-based Wachtell Lipton, which has previously investigated the owners of the LA Clippers and Atlanta Hawks, have interviewed more than 300 people, mostly current and former employees, sources close to the investigation told ESPN. The lawyers also had access to extensive documents, including internal email and personnel records, the sources said.
The staff corroborated a number of the published allegations, presented others as previously reported by ESPN sources, and provided documents, including emails, to investigators.
Sharpton’s announcement Saturday came after members of a new coalition of civil rights activists, which includes four members of Sharpton’s National Action Network, sent a letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver as well as the NBA Board of Governors on March 11 calling for Sarver’s removal.
“We are deeply concerned by reports of racism, misogyny and abusive behavior allegedly perpetrated by Phoenix Suns majority owner Robert Sarver,” the 10-member group that declared itself the American Sports Accountability Project said in a letter. “There is zero tolerance for such behavior in today’s society and we expect the NBA and its leadership to hold Mr. Sarver accountable for these heinous acts, as they did in the case of Donald Sterling.”
Sharpton was part of a delegation that met with Silver in 2014 and pushed for a speedy resolution of the investigation into Donald Sterling, the former owner of the Clippers, who was expelled from the league for racist comments that appeared in the recording of the conversation.
The American Sports Accountability Project, or ASAP, has also launched a website and social media hashtag as part of its campaign: #SackSarver.