Yankees owner lends credence to Elon Musk's comment about Mark Cuban's racism: "Dallas Mavericks are consistently white in a black man's game"
Mark Cuban, the former majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has found himself engaged in an online feud with Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk. The pair have gone back and forth on socio-political issues on more than one occasion, with the latest interaction revolving around corporate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
This time, however, the back-and-forth has spread to external sources, with New York Yankees minority owner Patrick Bet-David weighing in.
After Musk took aim at a diversity goal set by the United Airlines' pilot training academy to have 50% of enrolled students be women or people of color, Cuban responded. Cuban said that he had done some further research into the DEI goal while clarifying some of the key points.
Rather than engaging in a civil debate, Musk called Cuban a racist and suggested he add an Asian woman and a white woman to the Dallas Mavericks.
Patrick Bet-David reacted in a recent episode of his podcast, where he took Musk's side and took aim at Mark Cuban as well:
"You know what team is the whitest team in the NBA? The whitest team in the NBA, according to the Guardian? What the hell are you talking about DEI? The argument is over, you have the whitest team in the NBA. The Dallas Mavericks are consistently white in a Black man's game. ...
"Mark, you realize how much your argument loses credibility when your team is the whitest team?"
Looking further at Mark Cuban and Elon Musk's heated back-and-forth
Mark Cuban and Elon Musk's heated back-and-forth seemed to be somewhat one-sided, with Cuban posting longer messages, while Musk used insults.
In response to Musk's original problem with United Airlines' DEI goals and the outrage that followed, Cuban wrote, in part:
"This is a training school. Once they graduate, it’s a multi-year process to have an OPPORTUNITY to pilot for United. Since I’m a nice guy and want you to be fully informed, I’ll share with you the benefit of the 60 seconds I spent looking for how the program works."
That tweet garnered another insult from Musk, who responded by writing:
"If mental gymnastics were an Olympic sport, Mark Cuban would be a perfect 10."
The big question for the NBA community, of course, is whether all of the bickering with Musk will take Cuban's focus off the Dallas Mavericks. Since selling his majority stake in the team, Cuban has continued to retain control of basketball operations; however, if the team doesn't perform, that could change.