Issel Suspended for 4 Games due to Racist comment

Nuggets' Coach Suspended for Racist Comment

Issel provokes controversy over expletive-laden comments about Mexicans

Denver, December 12, 2001 -- Dan Issel, the President and head coach of the Denver Nuggets, was suspended from four games for "shouting a profanity and insensitive racial remark" after a game at the Pepsi Center, the team's home arena. Issel made the comments to Hispanic fan Bobby Bowman; he told Bowman "Hey, go buy another beer. Go drink another beer, you (expletive) Mexican (expletive)," according to USA Today. Also, the local NBC affiliate, KUSA, captured the incident on tape.

The four-game suspension will cost Issel $112,000. He publicly apologized in a press conference, and NBA commissioner David Stern announced that the coach will face no further disciplinary action. However, local Hispanic activists have launched a campaign to have Issel fired and are boycotting Nuggets games. Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Victoria Barela called the four-game suspension "completely laughable" and "totally unacceptable."

Nuggets officials have planned to meet with members of the Hispanic community to resolve the conflict. The Hispanic groups want a formal apology to their community and greater sensitivity on the part of the Nuggets' administration. The team's general manager, Kiki Vandeweghe, said the members of the organization "hope to win back the trust of the Hispanic community."

Sources:
Oscar Dixon, "Issel Suspended Four Games After Shouting Racial Slur," USA Today, 12/13
Thomas Harding, "Latest in Long Line of Lunacy," Colorado Springs Gazette, 12/13
Roscoe Nance, "Nuggets to Meet With Hispanic Groups," USA Today, 12/13
"Hispanic Groups Boycott Nuggets," Associated Press, 12/14

Amy Armond