Charles Oakley raised some eyebrows when he compared the current situation with the New York Knicks to the one that took place with Donald Sterling and the Los Angeles Clippers, but he later clarified that he was not calling Knicks owner James Dolan racist.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated on Thursday, Oakley said Dolan is inching closer to a nightmare like the one Sterling created. Naturally, that prompted a question about whether Oakley feels Dolan is a racist. Oakley said he puts Dolan on the same level as Sterling, but he stopped short of saying the Knicks owner is racist.
Charles Oakley joined our @SInowLIVE today:
'Do you consider James Dolan on that same level as a Donald Sterling?'
Oakley: 'Yes' pic.twitter.com/kPc294wqNp
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 16, 2017
“When people start talking about stuff over and over and over, sooner or later the truth comes out. I don’t know yet,” Oakley said. “If he is, it’ll come out. Right now, we’re still waiting to see.”
Oakley was later given a chance to elaborate in a chat with TMZ, and he clarified that he was not accusing Dolan of being racist.
“I don’t know because I don’t know him. I’ve never met him like that,” Oakley said. “You hear all of that stuff, but I don’t know. I didn’t say yes to Sports Illustrated and I’m not saying yes to you. There’s a lot of stuff going on.”
When asked if he has accepted Dolan’s apology now that his ban from Madison Square Garden has been lifted, Oakley made it clear he is still holding a grudge.
“I can’t accept that right now. It still hurts me,” he said. “Somebody’s gotta step up for something that happened in the old days and is still happening in this day and age. I just can’t see myself doing that.”
Oakley said previously that Dolan has had an issue with him for years over Oakley’s past criticisms of the team. Kicking Oakley out of MSG has become a public relations nightmare for Dolan, and it even led to Draymond Green accusing Dolan of having a “slave master mentality.” You can read more of what Green had to say here.
