Toronto Star: Edward Rogers fought plans to keep Raptors’ Masai Ujiri

[DG88]

Do I think Ed Rogers is a racist I can't say that with any form of certainty. Do I think he made a classless move to empower himself and put down Masai and his worth, hell yes. Going to the race card only derails the real talking points about this.

Im going to let you in on a Secret. Black people HATE playing the race card. We'll literally look for every reason not to use it before using it because we couldn't believe racism is the real reason for some bull playing out in front of us.

From a Business standpoint Masai oversaw the Raptors most successful tenure that saw them add $500M in value and a Championship into the fold. Masai has had Rivals both within and outside of Basketball trying to poach him...From a business standpoint how do you even begin to think this man isn't worth the money you're paying him?

There's only one reason and it coincides with this fool being a trumper.

He's racist. That can't be ignored and it can't be swept under the rug under the guise of not derailing the conversation.

IT IS THE CONVERSATION.

He played the same game with Paul Beeston and AA two white men. I can agree that he's a sleazeball based on what he's done in the past. Listen I'm black but I'm not going to speculate unless there is evidence of it.

[Clay Davis]

A photo-op with trump means you’re racist now? I’ve never heard trump was racist until he got into office. He was known for breaking bread with black entrepreneurs in the 80’s and often congregated with said partners.

You ain’t black if you don’t think trumps racist tho.

His skepticism of the Central Park 5's innocence (which was proved in court), being the progenitor of the birther claims, and long list of alleged discriminatory renting practices weren't enough for you?

[maternal85]

Do I think Ed Rogers is a racist I can't say that with any form of certainty. Do I think he made a classless move to empower himself and put down Masai and his worth, hell yes. Going to the race card only derails the real talking points about this.

Im going to let you in on a Secret. Black people HATE playing the race card. We'll literally look for every reason not to use it before using it because we couldn't believe racism is the real reason for some bull playing out in front of us.

From a Business standpoint Masai oversaw the Raptors most successful tenure that saw them add $500M in value and a Championship into the fold. Masai has had Rivals both within and outside of Basketball trying to poach him...From a business standpoint how do you even begin to think this man isn't worth the money you're paying him?

There's only one reason and it coincides with this fool being a trumper.

He's racist. That can't be ignored and it can't be swept under the rug under the guise of not derailing the conversation.

IT IS THE CONVERSATION.

There's no such thing as the "race card". Racism is simply racism. The "race card" is a way to gaslight POC, making them feel ashamed or guilty of reporting racial discrimination. Stay on task. After making this franchise millions, both in hard cash and equity, and being the best in the league at his job, while getting offered more money, Rogers still didn't want to pay him. If he was a white man and won the leafs a cup, Roger's wouldn't dare try that. Lastly, after giving him the contract, he called Ujiri back, a grow man with a wife and kids to belittle him, saying he's not worth the contract he was given. Yet people have the audacity to say this isn't a racial issue.

[ontnut]

Do I think Ed Rogers is a racist I can't say that with any form of certainty. Do I think he made a classless move to empower himself and put down Masai and his worth, hell yes. Going to the race card only derails the real talking points about this.

Im going to let you in on a Secret. Black people HATE playing the race card. We'll literally look for every reason not to use it before using it because we couldn't believe racism is the real reason for some bull playing out in front of us.

From a Business standpoint Masai oversaw the Raptors most successful tenure that saw them add $500M in value and a Championship into the fold. Masai has had Rivals both within and outside of Basketball trying to poach him...From a business standpoint how do you even begin to think this man isn't worth the money you're paying him?

There's only one reason and it coincides with this fool being a trumper.

He's racist. That can't be ignored and it can't be swept under the rug under the guise of not derailing the conversation.

IT IS THE CONVERSATION.

Or maybe he's just a bad businessman who doesn't know how to run a company?
Incompetence is an option here too.

Just sayin' it's not CLEAR that this was racially motivated.

[Tacoma]

Let's put everything aside but the facts. First background: shareholders with voting rights ultimately control a company. These shareholders vote on who will be on the Board of Directors that in turn vote on who will be their Chair and also Executives to manage the company like Masai.

The key is the family trust that owns the majority of Rogers Communications Inc. This looks to be a testamentary trust set up by Ted Rogers and it appears Ed is the Trustee who controls and manages the assets of the Trust. This asset management would include RCI, thus Ed controls RCI.

Since the Trust is the ultimate owner and Ed has the sole right to manage the Trusts assets, then it follows that Ed controls everything, including all the chain of companies down the line. Ed wants to take this to the BC Supreme Court and if this line of ownership holds, I don't see Ed losing this fight.

In theory, Masai thus could still be fired if Ed wins his case. But in practice that's unlikely to happen since the contract is signed and still must be paid out. Paying Masai that much for doing nothing is not in the best interest of the Trust and likely violates his duties as the Trustee of the Trust.

[ontnut]

Let's put everything aside but the facts. First background: shareholders with voting rights ultimately control a company. These shareholders vote on who will be on the Board of Directors that in turn vote on who will be their Chair and also Executives to manage the company like Masai.

The key is the family trust that owns the majority of Rogers Communications Inc. This looks to be a testamentary trust set up by Ted Rogers and it appears Ed is the Trustee who controls and manages the assets of the Trust. This asset management would include RCI, thus Ed controls RCI.

Since the Trust is the ultimate owner and Ed has the sole right to manage the Trusts assets, then it follows that Ed controls everything, including all the chain of companies down the line. Ed wants to take this to the BC Supreme Court and if this line of ownership holds, I don't see Ed losing this fight.

In theory, Masai thus could still be fired if Ed wins his case. But in practice that's unlikely to happen since the contract is signed and still must be paid out. Paying Masai that much for doing nothing is not in the best interest of the Trust and likely violates his duties as the Trustee of the Trust.

Except that Rogers only controls 37.5% of MLSE. So he can't outright fire Masai without over 50% of MLSE board approval, including the chairman of MLSE and governor of the Raptors (Larry T). Larry T is ALSO the chairman of the NBA board of governors. I believe if both Bell and Rogers wanted him gone, he'd be gone. Larry still has final say, as the Raptors' governor, although going against a 75% vote would seem unlikely.

Now with regards to RCI, you may be right. Since he is in control of the Trust, he likely can win in court with regards to control of RCI. That's the larger fight at hand in the grand scheme, and both sides in the RCI battle are going to use every tactic in the book to fight each other, which includes this likely hit piece in the Star by Ed's opposition. But regardless of the outcome with RCI, Masai's job is still safe.

[LarSiN]

Masai is just incredible at PR and embodying Canadian values as a leader. People love him for that, but I do think he has not really positioned Toronto for the future. He says we are rebuilding, but when will Toronto be relevant again. I think Rogers was asking for a plan and that is fair because how bad will this team be?

Here is my take on Masai's tenure:

Prior to the 2019 championship Toronto was a bit of laughingstock being bullied by LBJ every playoff series. They did win a lot in the regular season though, but the East was historically bad during that time.

Toronto had one championship run based on a lucky trade for Kawhi Leonard and LBJ moving to another conference. Also, Golden State losing their most important player to injury also helped immensely.

After the Championship, he bungled all the free agencies there after losing Ibaka, Gasol and Lowry for little to no compensation.

Masai has always valued Toronto players so high with without testing the market. The Khem Birch signing makes no sense and I doubt he was valued in the market the way Toronto signed him on. Siakam was signed before being on the open market - same as OG, and FVV got a pretty big contract as a 6 foot PG who only averaged 17.6 points, 6.6 assists at the time of his deal.

Trent Jr. was RFA and yet they signed him right away when they could have went after other players with their capspace and signed him with Bird rights. Or, they could have done their own sign and trade if another team wanted him. He isn't a bad player, but the contract value at his age is tough to accept.

Lowry's sign and trade really only helped Miami and only brought a mediocre prospect in Achuiwa and a paperweight in Dragic and killed all the capspace that had been planned for the past summer. It wasn't a great free agency, but we missed out on Richaun Holmes and Spencer Dinwiddie which would have made this team much better and supported the core team if that was direction we were going in.

Instead we have an awkward group of It not about how long the rebuild is, it is about working with the assets you have. They could have gotten more for Lowry, Ibaka, Gasol, could have tested the market for their own guys that were RFAs, and drafted better.

Scottie is great, but Flynn seems like a mistake seeing how a guy like Desmond Bane is averaging nearly 20 PPG in year two. The two seconds from this year are also question marks given the talent still out there in Greg Brown, Sharife Cooper, Brandon Boston, Jericho Sims, Santi Aldama among others.

The are above the cap currently with for the next couple years with a core of FVV, OG, Siakam, Trent Jr. and Birch so it is an approach that warrants a few questions about the ceiling of these guys. They basically are gambling that this system will make these super roleplayers into stars, which is a bit of stretch to me. Of course he could make a few trades and really build around Scottie, which to me will be the conclusion of this.

So much to unpack ...

What better offers were on the table for Lowry/Ibaka/Gasol?

What makes Precious "mediocre" (he's averaging 11/11/2) ?

How would overpaying for Dinwiddie/Holmes have helped our future/cap ?

Are you not excited by Banton at all ?

The Birch signing made perfect sense (positional need, wants to be here), you just wish it was a few mill less.

You're upset about the GTJ contract because of his age ? Huh ? That's literally the best part of the deal.

Being "over the cap" is meaningless till Game 82. We will not be over the cap.

Dragic isn't a "paperweight" unless we get nothing for him. Until then, he's still an asset.

So basically ... you're upset we locked up our own core, you're upset we didn't lock up other expensive FA's, you're upset we didn't pursue SnT's we have no proof existed & you're upset that everybody else's youth is better than ours.

Dude ... we've been in every game so far, without our best player. If you can't see the potential (and think we'd have been better off being capped out with Holmes/Dinwiddie), all I can say is, keep watching.

[OakleyDokely]

Let's put everything aside but the facts. First background: shareholders with voting rights ultimately control a company. These shareholders vote on who will be on the Board of Directors that in turn vote on who will be their Chair and also Executives to manage the company like Masai.

The key is the family trust that owns the majority of Rogers Communications Inc. This looks to be a testamentary trust set up by Ted Rogers and it appears Ed is the Trustee who controls and manages the assets of the Trust. This asset management would include RCI, thus Ed controls RCI.

Since the Trust is the ultimate owner and Ed has the sole right to manage the Trusts assets, then it follows that Ed controls everything, including all the chain of companies down the line. Ed wants to take this to the BC Supreme Court and if this line of ownership holds, I don't see Ed losing this fight.

In theory, Masai thus could still be fired if Ed wins his case. But in practice that's unlikely to happen since the contract is signed and still must be paid out. Paying Masai that much for doing nothing is not in the best interest of the Trust and likely violates his duties as the Trustee of the Trust.

Except that Rogers only controls 37.5% of MLSE. So he can't outright fire Masai without over 50% of MLSE board approval, including the chairman of MLSE and governor of the Raptors (Larry T). Larry T is ALSO the chairman of the NBA board of governors. I believe if both Bell and Rogers wanted him gone, he'd be gone. Larry still has final say, as the Raptors' governor, although going against a 75% vote would seem unlikely.

Larry T is the governor of the Raptors and he has the authority to make personnel decisions, like re-signing or firing Masai.

Under the NBA structure, any franchise with multiple partners (no majority head) has to appoint a governor and Larry T is that guy for the Raps.

Larry T would have to remove Masai or the MLSE board would have to remove Larry as governor in order to touch Masai. Like you said, Rogers only has 37.5% of the votes.

Trust fund Ed can ruin Rogers or the Jays on his own, but he can't ruin MLSE based on his own inept decisions.

[tdot_steel]

Let's put everything aside but the facts. First background: shareholders with voting rights ultimately control a company. These shareholders vote on who will be on the Board of Directors that in turn vote on who will be their Chair and also Executives to manage the company like Masai.

The key is the family trust that owns the majority of Rogers Communications Inc. This looks to be a testamentary trust set up by Ted Rogers and it appears Ed is the Trustee who controls and manages the assets of the Trust. This asset management would include RCI, thus Ed controls RCI.

Since the Trust is the ultimate owner and Ed has the sole right to manage the Trusts assets, then it follows that Ed controls everything, including all the chain of companies down the line. Ed wants to take this to the BC Supreme Court and if this line of ownership holds, I don't see Ed losing this fight.

In theory, Masai thus could still be fired if Ed wins his case. But in practice that's unlikely to happen since the contract is signed and still must be paid out. Paying Masai that much for doing nothing is not in the best interest of the Trust and likely violates his duties as the Trustee of the Trust.

He will likely gain control of Rogers.

Let's take the legal aspect, race, Raptors, Masai and business out of it. Someone has to be morally/ethically vacant to screw over their Mother and sisters out of the family legacy just to gain control of a business.

However, a surprising number of posters here are in support of this character. Which is truly sad.

[phillipmike]

You are the epitome of idiot and even in the face of evidence will still hold onto their beliefs until the the very end.
Just because you are a POC doesn't provide you with qualified immunity from ignorance and in this case racial bias.
Racists hire POC also you dumb ass.

Boo hoo someone's feelings are hurt.

Do your homework before you come to class son. Otherwise, you would know that Ted Rogers set up a Trust in the event something like this happened. You would also know that Edward Rogers has had a hand in the ouster of the last 3 CEO's. He pushed out AA and Beeston. He tried to do it with Masai also. Do you see a pattern developing yet?

How about you do your homework? Rogers is the majority owner of the Jays, he has the power to hire a new President and GM of the Jays. He isnt for the Raptors and its why Larry shut him down. No pattern because Ed wasnt successful.

The result of those consultations was the Rogers Control Trust, which would be run by Loretta, Edward, Melinda, Martha and a third daughter, Lisa, plus a few old friends and trusted advisors (including Horn and Tory, the former Scotiabank CEO Peter Godsoe, and Rogers’ board members Phil Lind and Thomas Hull). Edward was named chair of the trust, Melinda vice-chair. There are all sorts of checks and balances in place (an arrangement Ted compared to the American system of government) to guard against hasty or unilateral actions by any one shareholder. The Trust controls 91 per cent of the Rogers Class A voting shares, making it essentially a family-run operation, in line with other communications behemoths with dual-class shares like ­Comcast (the Roberts family) and News Corp (the Murdochs).

Yet Rogers is still Chair, has his 5 new boards and is holding meetings. So who has the power? Edward or his sisters and mother?

Despite Ted’s carefully planned ownership structure, he left it up to his board of directors to choose the next CEO. He let it be known, however, that he favoured Nadir Mohamed, and that his son would do well to serve as Mohamed’s de facto lieutenant until he might be ready to assume the leadership.

And let it be litigated in court. When it is all said and done, Edward Rogers, for better or worse will be the Chairman and will get the board of directors he wants.

Here is a different version of the events with Beeston and Alex A. Edward Rogers went is search of replacements for both while they were still under contract. ER went to seek permission from the White Sox to speak to Williams. Reinsdorf who is friends with Beeston reported back to his buddy that he was going to be replaced.
https://nationalpost.com/sports/baseball/mlb/toronto-blue-jays-paul-beeston-fiasco-is-over-but-questions-about-teams-long-term-plan-remain

I dont know why this is a topic, this is exactly how it happened.

I see you conveniently chose to overlook my comment about Edward Rogers taking a family photo with Trump at Mar-a Lago. You are known by the company you keep and as they say a picture is worth a thousand words. This speaks to the character of the man to see nothing ethically wrong with taking a picture with a sexual predator, misogynist, racist, criminal like Trump. But that is ok with you nothing to see there, keep it moving. Continue pimping for ER, tells me all I need to know about you. Anyone that would support a man who would usurp his own Mother in search of power is as morally bankrupt as the person committing the act.

I hope your paycheque from Ed Rogers serves you well in life. Class dismissed!

Again, im not defending anyone, i just choose not to comment on something unrelated. Im just explaining reality and you cant handle reality.

Because it has noting to do with the story at hand. If Rogers pushed to re-sign Masai and gave him every you want you wouldnt bring this up. You take an alleged report, turn it into racism and then take something unrelated and connect it to the report. We get it you dont like the guy but not everything is racist. You water it down for actual racism POC face because you dont get your way or an alleged report triggered you.

[Dennis 37]

Do I think Ed Rogers is a racist I can't say that with any form of certainty. Do I think he made a classless move to empower himself and put down Masai and his worth, hell yes. Going to the race card only derails the real talking points about this.

Im going to let you in on a Secret. Black people HATE playing the race card. We'll literally look for every reason not to use it before using it because we couldn't believe racism is the real reason for some bull playing out in front of us.

From a Business standpoint Masai oversaw the Raptors most successful tenure that saw them add $500M in value and a Championship into the fold. Masai has had Rivals both within and outside of Basketball trying to poach him...From a business standpoint how do you even begin to think this man isn't worth the money you're paying him?

There's only one reason and it coincides with this fool being a trumper.

He's racist. That can't be ignored and it can't be swept under the rug under the guise of not derailing the conversation.

IT IS THE CONVERSATION.

There's no such thing as the "race card". Racism is simply racism. The "race card" is a way to gaslight POC, making them feel ashamed or guilty of reporting racial discrimination. Stay on task. After making this franchise millions, both in hard cash and equity, and being the best in the league at his job, while getting offered more money, Rogers still didn't want to pay him. If he was a white man and won the leafs a cup, Roger's wouldn't dare try that. Lastly, after giving him the contract, he called Ujiri back, a grow man with a wife and kids to belittle him, saying he's not worth the contract he was given. Yet people have the audacity to say this isn't a racial issue.

Racist: How dare you point to my racist actions when I discriminate against you.

And ya, only racists would allow themselves to be photographed with Donald Trump. You can't tell me the Rogers are too stupid to realize the message they were sending. I get Republican politicians, who may not all be racist, tolerate him because their career depends on his support, but the Rogers have no incentive to pretend to like the man.

Note: The Leafs will never win the Stanley Cup again. This current version of the Leafs have the best talent the team has had since Sittler and MacDonald, yet they still get blown out. Whereas the Raptors, in a clearly rebuilding year, are not an embarrassment.

[phillipmike]

Lol all these words spent defending an obvious moron POS trust fund kid like Eddie, all because he took a pic with your beloved Trump.

Trump derangement syndrome for reals.

I never once brought up the photo or Trump until now (which im only responding to). Nor have i defended Trump because this has nothing to do with the ALLEGED Edward Rogers report of how he poorly handled the Masai negotiations. There is good reason not to like both Rogers and Trump objectively and subjectively - but this is a discussion board about the Raptors so i have no issue discussing the part owner of the Raptors as this report is about his alleged actions. Discussing the former president of the US in a basketball forum doesnt have the place, especially when his actions have been flogged to death.

[Raps in 4]

Let's put everything aside but the facts. First background: shareholders with voting rights ultimately control a company. These shareholders vote on who will be on the Board of Directors that in turn vote on who will be their Chair and also Executives to manage the company like Masai.

The key is the family trust that owns the majority of Rogers Communications Inc. This looks to be a testamentary trust set up by Ted Rogers and it appears Ed is the Trustee who controls and manages the assets of the Trust. This asset management would include RCI, thus Ed controls RCI.

Since the Trust is the ultimate owner and Ed has the sole right to manage the Trusts assets, then it follows that Ed controls everything, including all the chain of companies down the line. Ed wants to take this to the BC Supreme Court and if this line of ownership holds, I don't see Ed losing this fight.

In theory, Masai thus could still be fired if Ed wins his case. But in practice that's unlikely to happen since the contract is signed and still must be paid out. Paying Masai that much for doing nothing is not in the best interest of the Trust and likely violates his duties as the Trustee of the Trust.

He will likely gain control of Rogers.

Let's take the legal aspect, race, Raptors, Masai and business out of it. Someone has to be morally/ethically vacant to screw over their Mother and sisters out of the family legacy just to gain control of a business.

However, a surprising number of posters here are in support of this character. Which is truly sad.

We need our Sterling/Sarver-type silver bullet. Ed is almost certainly a racist. Someone just needs to come forward with evidence. Hopefully it happens and we can get rid of this **** stain. Rogers has ruined baseball in this city for 20 years.

[tdot_steel]

Do I think Ed Rogers is a racist I can't say that with any form of certainty. Do I think he made a classless move to empower himself and put down Masai and his worth, hell yes. Going to the race card only derails the real talking points about this.

Im going to let you in on a Secret. Black people HATE playing the race card. We'll literally look for every reason not to use it before using it because we couldn't believe racism is the real reason for some bull playing out in front of us.

From a Business standpoint Masai oversaw the Raptors most successful tenure that saw them add $500M in value and a Championship into the fold. Masai has had Rivals both within and outside of Basketball trying to poach him...From a business standpoint how do you even begin to think this man isn't worth the money you're paying him?

There's only one reason and it coincides with this fool being a trumper.

He's racist. That can't be ignored and it can't be swept under the rug under the guise of not derailing the conversation.

IT IS THE CONVERSATION.

He played the same game with Paul Beeston and AA two white men. I can agree that he's a sleazeball based on what he's done in the past. Listen I'm black but I'm not going to speculate unless there is evidence of it.

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[maternal85]

Do I think Ed Rogers is a racist I can't say that with any form of certainty. Do I think he made a classless move to empower himself and put down Masai and his worth, hell yes. Going to the race card only derails the real talking points about this.

Im going to let you in on a Secret. Black people HATE playing the race card. We'll literally look for every reason not to use it before using it because we couldn't believe racism is the real reason for some bull playing out in front of us.

From a Business standpoint Masai oversaw the Raptors most successful tenure that saw them add $500M in value and a Championship into the fold. Masai has had Rivals both within and outside of Basketball trying to poach him...From a business standpoint how do you even begin to think this man isn't worth the money you're paying him?

There's only one reason and it coincides with this fool being a trumper.

He's racist. That can't be ignored and it can't be swept under the rug under the guise of not derailing the conversation.

IT IS THE CONVERSATION.

Or maybe he's just a bad businessman who doesn't know how to run a company?
Incompetence is an option here too.

Just sayin' it's not CLEAR that this was racially motivated.

I guess he had to call him the N word for it to be obvious ? So why did he call Ujiri to belittle him AFTER business was done ? Stop gaslighting POC.

[WuTang_CMB]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

Love it

[lobosloboslobos]

A photo-op with trump means you’re racist now? I’ve never heard trump was racist until he got into office. He was known for breaking bread with black entrepreneurs in the 80’s and often congregated with said partners.

You ain’t black if you don’t think trumps racist tho.

we can always count on you for some hilarity. you do know that the trump family has been historically and proactively racist, right?

https://www.vox.com/2016/7/25/12270880/donald-trump-racist-racism-history
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/06/trump-racism-comments/588067/

In fact, the very first time Trump appeared in the pages of the New York Times, back in the 1970s, was when the US Department of Justice sued him for racial discrimination.

And Trump's dad was in the Ku Klux Klan too. Woody Guthrie even wrote a song about him in the 1950s with these lyrics:

I suppose
Old Man Trump knows
Just how much
Racial Hate
He stirred up
In the bloodpot of human hearts
When he drawed
That color line
Here at his Beach Haven family project

So yeah, after all that has gone down and all the hate Trump spewed as president, pretty much if you go out of your way to have a picture taken with Trump these days there is probably a 99% correlation to sharing his racist attitudes.

[ontnut]

Im going to let you in on a Secret. Black people HATE playing the race card. We'll literally look for every reason not to use it before using it because we couldn't believe racism is the real reason for some bull playing out in front of us.

From a Business standpoint Masai oversaw the Raptors most successful tenure that saw them add $500M in value and a Championship into the fold. Masai has had Rivals both within and outside of Basketball trying to poach him...From a business standpoint how do you even begin to think this man isn't worth the money you're paying him?

There's only one reason and it coincides with this fool being a trumper.

He's racist. That can't be ignored and it can't be swept under the rug under the guise of not derailing the conversation.

IT IS THE CONVERSATION.

Or maybe he's just a bad businessman who doesn't know how to run a company?
Incompetence is an option here too.

Just sayin' it's not CLEAR that this was racially motivated.

I guess he had to call him the N word for it to be obvious ? So why did he call Ujiri to belittle him AFTER business was done ? Stop gaslighting POC.

Maybe he just doesn't like Ujiri, or maybe he does believe him to be arrogant and not worth the money? People in power do that kind of thing all the time, talk down to subordinates who share opposing views to them. Or maybe Ed's just an A-hole who doesn't like people who don't support him 100%, ie his own family. I don't know what was said behind closed doors or their personal relationship or exactly how he feels about POC, but you took ONE picture of him with Trump and have now concluded he's a racist and everything he does is racially motivated. That's a ridiculous conclusion to unilaterally draw. Gaslighting POC? Please. I'm simply looking at the evidence presented and not rushing to any conclusions based on my personal feelings. Again, there is clear evidence that he PERSONALLY called for permission to hire Kenny Williams, a POC, for the Jays presidency which was then held by...a white man. What through and through racist would do that? Are you maybe just ignoring some facts to the contrary in order to better suit your narrative?

Even if he probably IS a racist, which I'm not denying, I'm simply not willing to draw the direct conclusion that he didn't want Masai as President of the Raptors SOLELY because he's black. Maybe Rogers believed (wrongly) that Masai didn't perform well, or maybe he believes, like many here do, that Masai isn't 100% invested in the Raptors and is more interested in GOA/other jobs?

I took a picture with Doug Ford once. Does that make me a drug addict, or align me in any way with Doug Ford's racial preclusions, whatever they may have been? Does that mean I agree with his political stances? Does that mean I can't speak ill about drugs now? Does that mean I'm pro-drugs? Or maybe, I vapidly just wanted a picture with Doug Ford because he's a celebrity in Toronto.

[KrazyP]

A photo-op with trump means you’re racist now? I’ve never heard trump was racist until he got into office. He was known for breaking bread with black entrepreneurs in the 80’s and often congregated with said partners.

You ain’t black if you don’t think trumps racist tho.

we can always count on you for some hilarity. you do know that the trump family has been historically and proactively racist, right?

https://www.vox.com/2016/7/25/12270880/donald-trump-racist-racism-history
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/06/trump-racism-comments/588067/

In fact, the very first time Trump appeared in the pages of the New York Times, back in the 1970s, was when the US Department of Justice sued him for racial discrimination.

And Trump's dad was in the Ku Klux Klan too. Woody Guthrie even wrote a song about him in the 1950s with these lyrics:

I suppose
Old Man Trump knows
Just how much
Racial Hate
He stirred up
In the bloodpot of human hearts
When he drawed
That color line
Here at his Beach Haven family project

So yeah, after all that has gone down and all the hate Trump spewed as president, pretty much if you go out of your way to have a picture taken with Trump these days there is probably a 99% correlation to sharing his racist attitudes.

At this stage, people who say things like, 'I’ve never heard trump was racist until he got into office", (implying the media made him a racist) are most likely racists themselves and likely agree with Trump ideologies.

[maternal85]

Or maybe he's just a bad businessman who doesn't know how to run a company?
Incompetence is an option here too.

Just sayin' it's not CLEAR that this was racially motivated.

I guess he had to call him the N word for it to be obvious ? So why did he call Ujiri to belittle him AFTER business was done ? Stop gaslighting POC.

Maybe he just doesn't like Ujiri, or maybe he does believe him to be arrogant and not worth the money? People in power do that kind of thing all the time, talk down to subordinates who share opposing views to them. Or maybe Ed's just an A-hole who doesn't like people who don't support him 100%, ie his own family. I don't know what was said behind closed doors or their personal relationship or exactly how he feels about POC, but you took ONE picture of him with Trump and have now concluded he's a racist and everything he does is racially motivated. That's a ridiculous conclusion to unilaterally draw. Gaslighting POC? Please. I'm simply looking at the evidence presented and not rushing to any conclusions based on my personal feelings. Again, there is clear evidence that he PERSONALLY called for permission to hire Kenny Williams, a POC, for the Jays presidency which was then held by...a white man. What through and through racist would do that? Are you maybe just ignoring some facts in order to better suit your narrative?

Even if he probably IS a racist, which I'm not denying, I'm simply not willing to draw the direct conclusion that he didn't want Masai as President of the Raptors SOLELY because he's black. Maybe Rogers believed (wrongly) that Masai didn't perform well, or maybe he believes, like many here do, that Masai isn't 100% invested in the Raptors and is more interested in GOA/other jobs?

I took a picture with Doug Ford once. Does that make me a drug addict, or align me in any way with Doug Ford's racial preclusions, whatever they may have been? Does that mean I can't speak ill about drugs now? Does that mean I'm pro-drugs?

You're confusing me with someone else. I've never discussed the picture. But again, why did he call Ujiri to belittle him AFTER BUSINESS was done ? Don't ignore the question, with gaslighting.