Billionaire Mark Cuban made news when it was announced that he would be a special guest of the Hillary Clinton campaign at the presidential debate at Hofstra University, sitting in the front row. Cuban has been taking swipes at Republican nominee Donald Trump and reportedly helping with Clinton’s debate prep.
But in 2014, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks came under fire for saying he would cross the street to avoid a young black man wearing a hoodie.
“We’re all prejudiced in one way or the other. If I see a black kid in a hoodie at night on the same side of the street, I’m probably going to walk to the other side of the street,” Cuban said.
Cuban’s comments came in the wake of the acquittal of Neighborhood Watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American who was wearing a hoodie at the time of his death.
Watch:
Ultimately Cuban apologized to Martin’s family for his remarks, tweeting, “In hindsight, I should have used different examples. I didn’t consider the Trayvon Martin family and I apologize to them for that.” Since, however, Cuban has deleted his apology tweet and those that followed where he said “I stand by the words and substance of the interview.”
In his “hoodie” remarks, Cuban added, “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. And the list goes on or stereotypes that we all live up to and are fearful of.”