Warriors Fire PR Manager Over E-Mail
What is it about professional sports teams and their PR managers?
(Maybe they’re the only one’s left with a sense of humor)
ESPN reports: “The public relations manager for the Golden State Warriors was fired Wednesday for inadvertently sending out a racially insensitive e-mail titled “Ghetto Prom” to the team’s entire media distribution list.”
Note to file: When you’re sending an email to your girlfriend or wife (which Govan was) from work, think twice.
Everything is kept on record. Even if this email wouldn’t have “misfired,” Govan may still have gotten busted if the company screens its emails and adheres to a policy. Many big firms follow this practice.
Eric Govan, the No. 3 person on the Warriors’ media relations staff, sent the e-mail featuring 17 photos, many depicting scantily clad black people in formal attire and commentary on the outfits. The e-mail went to dozens of newspaper reporters, columnists and sports editors as well as television and radio stations.
Funny enough, the AP failed to include the photos. Better to see for yourself and come to your own conclusions. Govan didn’t take the photos, he just editorialized. Guess that’s verboten these days — unless you’re Chris Rock or Mencia.
Unfortunately, the Flickr lineup doesn’t include the gal wearing a prom dress featuring a custom cut-out to expose her 7-month old pregnant stomach. No. joke. Saw it on the local news last night.
(For consideration: If the email had been a “white trash wedding” or something like that, would the consequences have been the same? The outrage equal? Doubtful)
“It came to my attention moments ago that one of our employees had inadvertently sent out an e-mail that was in extreme poor taste and completely unprofessional,” team president Robert Rowell said in a statement. “I can assure you that the contents of this e-mail  or any unsaid presumptions  do not represent the values and beliefs of the Golden State Warriors organization. The employee responsible for sending this e-mail has been dealt with in an appropriate manner.”
Blah. Blah. Blah.
This isn’t the first time the Warriors are apologizing for something that deserves no apology.
But political correctness must prevail, so play ball.
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February 2nd, 2006 at 10:44 am
Ah, if only it were the good old days, when a guy could make fun of spearchuckers and no one thought twice about it.
February 2nd, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Actually, if you watch Eddie Murphy Raw, he does a pretty good skit on the subject.
February 3rd, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Being of partial Negro-American decent, I find those pictures funny. Just like this wedding that I went to while I lived in Charleston, S.Cc.
The groom wore overalls, accented with a wife beater t-shirt, catepillar hat, work boots and a half chewed, excuse me, chawed pack of red man in his back pocket. The bride, wore those hee-haw shorts, had pig tails, barefeet, freckles and the obligatory missing chicklets.
The reception cuisine featured head cheese, opposum, mashed taters, greens, fried chicken, stuffin and other delicacies of the south. The wedding cake was designed, like of course, a fucking race car. I found it disturbing, but I expected it, when the bride through the flowers, a sheep almost caught it.
So, go ahead white people, do the stupid shit that you do. As long as there are in-bred redneck white trash, it all evens out in the end
January 11th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
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