Kings Cancel Lunar New Year Promo After Cousins Complains About Monkey Image
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CBS Detroit/AP) — The Sacramento Kings cancelled a Lunar New Year promotional giveaway after DeMarcus Cousins complained it was insensitive on the first day of Black History Month.
The Kings were set to give away T-shirts commemorating the Chinese Year of the Monkey, which starts on Feb. 8, at the team's game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night. The shirts sported the image of a purple monkey.
It was a hot topic on Valenti and Foster show, where callers on both sides of the issue weighed in.
Some thought Cousins' objection was ridiculous and others, like this man, understood it completely.
One caller, a man who said he's black, objected when his daughter's school had a jungle theme for the month and put all the kids' photos inside animal frames.
"My daughter's picture happened to be in the frame of a monkey," he said, explaining that he and his wife insisted the frame be changed "because of the association between black people and monkeys."
But according to a Facebook post, Bucks analyst and former player Marques Johnson said Cousins was discussing the matter with Kings employees before fans arrived for the game. Johnson agreed that the T-shirts could be construed as offensive.
The T-shirts were removed from the seats and Kings President Chris Granger told the Sacramento Bee that the team did not want to offend anyone and acted as soon as Cousins voiced his concern.
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