Danny Ferry: 'I made a mistake' with Luol Deng comments
In his first public comments since his leave of absence this past September, former Atlanta Hawks general manager told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne that while he wishes the full context of his racially charged comments about Luol Deng were known, he "made a mistake" by making the comments — and one that he says he is deeply sorry for:
"Those words [should not have] come out of my mouth. I have to own that and I have."
"I deeply regret it," Ferry added. "I'm sorry that Luol's had to hear this in so many ways and so many places all year long. It had to be really hard and frustrating for him. I feel terrible about that."
While Ferry was cleared of any racial bias in his comments by an investigating law firm, a condition of his settlement with the Hawks, he noted that didn't mean he was cleared of being in the wrong.
Ferry made the inflammatory comments on a conference call, describing Deng as someone who "has a little African in him." Ferry holds that he was reading from a scouting report prepared by someone else. He told Shelburne that he considers himself lucky that Deng was willing to talk to him after the comments came to light.
"I don't know that I would've," Ferry said.
(h/t ESPN.com)
