Cuban To ESPN: Keeping Earl K. Sneed On Staff Was 'Horrible Mistake'
DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says he made a mistake keeping writer Earl K. Sneed on the Mavs.com staff after two domestic violence incidents.
In an interview with ESPN's Tim MacMahon Wednesday, Cuban says the blame for keeping Sneed on staff falls on his shoulders.
"I want to be clear: I'm not putting the blame on anybody else," Cuban told ESPN. "It came down to my final decision that I made."
According to the Sports Illustrated report, Sneed was twice accused of domestic assault while working for the Mavericks, including a guilty plea in a case that was dismissed when he met the conditions of the agreement.
"It was bad, but we made a mistake about the whole thing and didn't pursue what happened with the police after the fact," Cuban told ESPN. "So we got it mostly from Earl's perspective, and because we didn't dig in with the details -- and obviously it was a horrible mistake in hindsight -- we kind of, I don't want to say took his word for it, but we didn't see all the gruesome details until just recently. I didn't read the police report on that until just [Tuesday], and that was a huge mistake obviously."
Sneed released a statement to CBS11 on Wednesday disputing the words used in the claims while thanking now-fired Human Resources head Buddy Pittman and owner Mark Cuban:
"While both instances described in the report are damning and language used is not accurate, the two relationships described in the report are not something I am proud to have been a part of. I underwent much counseling after both situations, under the direction of Buddy Pittman, and I feel like I grew from that counseling. I also signed a contract stating that I would not have one-on-one contact or fraternize with female employees after the inaccurately described incident with my female co-worker, who was a live-in girlfriend. I abided by the details of that contract for four years, and received counseling during that period to avoid future instances.
I thank Buddy Pittman for helping me to grow during that time, and I thank Mark Cuban for his willingness to help facilitate that growth."
