Mega-entrepreneur Mark Cuban was in the news this week for comments he made in a recent sit-down about the relationship between power, prejudice, racism, and related issues, and the Shark Tank star has now apologized for a portion of his remarks.
Cuban’s remarks came during an interview with Inc. , during which the Dallas Mavericks owner admitted that not only does he have prejudices, but all people do.
Cuban was responding to a broader question about the Donald Sterling controversy, and he opined at length about how having the prejudices are not the specific issue at hand — being aware of and working on them is more important, basically.
During the interview, Cuban explained that he too is sometimes moved to behave in a fashion that’s somewhat less enlightened, and he said initially:
“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. 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.”
Cuban added:
“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.”
Impressed by Mark Cuban’s honesty and wise words? We were, too. And now, Cuban has even apologized for the example used — one he says he realizes could inadvertently be painful to the family of slain teen Trayvon Martin.
During a spliced Twitter comment set, Cuban apologized to the family of Trayvon, standing by the spirit of the statements he made otherwise.
He began:
P/1: In hindsight I should have used different examples. I didn’t consider the Trayvon Martin family, and I apologize to them for that.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
P/2: beyond apologizing to the Martin family, I stand by the words and substance of the interview.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
Then he explains:
P/3: I think that helping people improve their lives, helping people engage with people they may fear or may not understand,
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
P/4: and helping people realize that while we all may have our prejudices and bigotries
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
P/5: 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
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
In case you missed it, you can catch Mark Cuban speaking on race and bigotry, above. But man, is his handling of this perfect, or what?