Earlier today, we reported a story that saw Mark Cuban donating $10 million dollars to women's organizations following the investigation into the Mavericks’ organization for their “predatory sexual behavior" which included multiple sexual allegations against former CEO and president Terdema Ussery, who repeatedly requested sex from employees and allegedly touched women's legs during meetings, as well as other forms of sexual harassment. Ussery left the Mavs in 2015 and has since been replaced by Cynthia Marshall.
Well following the investigation, which was released on Wednesday, Mark stopped by ESPN’s The Jump with host Rachel Nichols to further talk about the accusations, and she did not hold back from firing hard questions.
Cuban apologized profusely for allegedly not knowing about the incidents, saying he made plenty of mistakes along the way and regrets not doing more when he had the chance. He even got teary eyed and explained that the stories and pain inside his employees eyes touched him deeply and he has done everything he can to change the culture surrounding this incident.
At one point, Nichols even brought up that Ussery had been accused of similar behavior before Cuban bought the team and the local news had reported on it, yet Cuban kept him employed. Cuban said that he didn’t know about those reports; Nichols asked, “How did you not know that?” He insisted that he wasn’t aware, and admitted he should’ve done due diligence. “I was just excited to buy the Mavs,” the billionaire said.
Rachel continued to press Cuban in ways not many reporters could or would, and my hat goes off to her for the tough interview. This is a bad situation for Cuban and Mavericks all around. Check out the uneasy clip (below).