Robert Sarver, owner of Phoenix Suns and Mercury, the NBA and WNBA teams, said that he has begun the process of selling off the teams, eight days after being handed a suspension for racist comments and hostile behaviour towards employees in the workplace. 

“But in our current unforgiving climate, it has become painfully clear that that is no longer possible — that whatever good I have done, or could still do, is outweighed by things I have said in the past”, Sarver said in his statement. 

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, an independent firm, conducted an investigation into Sarver’s conduct and concluded: “no finding that Sarver’s conduct was motivated by racial or gender-based animus”. However, their findings also prove that Sarver continued his behaviour long after being confronted about the inappropriateness. As a result, he received a one-year suspension and was fined $10 million. 

Here’s all that Robert Sarver said. 

N-word

Sarver used the n-word in a 2004 meeting with a free agent, telling a story about attending the University of Arizona. He used the word to explain what a Black person said. Witnesses there had said that Sarver’s use of the word made them feel uncomfortable and he was told he couldn’t use it. 

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In a 2012-2013 team building exercise, Sarver summarized what players were saying to each other and ended up using the n-word again while quoting them. In 2016, after the game against Golden State, Sarver fumed because a Black player on the opposite team had said the n-word without getting a technical. While in the coach’s office, Sarver used the word again to describe the incident. 

Between 2010 and 2017, there were two occasions when Sarver said the n-word, quoting a player’s family member who was recounting a story about boarding the plane. 

Demeaning comments to women 

Sarver told a pregnant employee that she couldn’t be in her role, coordinating an event due to her pregnancy. He added, “she would be ‘breastfeeding’ and her ‘baby needs their mom, not their father”, sending the woman crying. 

Again in March 2011, he screamed at an employee who made a video of another worker leaving the Suns. The employee cried and later Sarver went into her office, where he could be heard saying  “Why do all the women around here cry so much?” 

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The embattled owner made several inappropriate comments like looking a pregnant woman up and down, and saying she’d return to her pre-pregnancy weight. He’s also known to have crossed lines commenting on the bodies and attractiveness of Suns dancers. On one occasion, Sarver also commented on an employee’s breasts saying “Did you get an upgrade this summer?” 

Crude jokes

Sarver made plenty of inappropriate jokes like procuring women for the players to have sex with and impregnating local strippers. He’s also been accused of speaking of the size of players’ genitalia. 

Investigators determined that the organization was toxic for pregnant women and those with young kids. Emails were found where Suns executives commented on female staffers’ physical appearances, and there was one case of anti-gay sentiment as well.