A week after announcing internally his intentions to sell his stake in the esports team he founded, Echo Fox, because of racial epithets purportedly used by one of the team's shareholders, former NBA star Rick Fox said he would reverse his decision to leave the company if it ceased business with the investor.
In a video posted by TMZ on Friday, the former Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics player passionately explained his stay-or-go stance, one that stood in contrast to prior reports that he definitely planned to separate from the company.
Last week, reports emerged of a partner with Vision Esports -- part of Vision Venture Partners, an investment group Rick Fox co-founded that owns a stake in Echo Fox -- being alleged to have used racist language aimed at Jace Hill, the former CEO of Echo Fox and current CEO and head custodian of Twin Galaxies. Hall is African-American.
"I have amazing partners, investors, sponsors that don't stand for this type of behavior," Fox told TMZ in the interview published Friday. "This has been my life. This has been my passion. I'm not looking to go anywhere, but I will not stay in business with a racist. I just won't."
Echo Fox and Riot sources told ESPN the investor Fox is referring to is Amit Raizada, a co-founder of Echo Fox, who allegedly used the N-word to describe Hall during an internal dispute. Raizada is a partner in the esports organization's parent company, Vision Venture Partners, and founded Echo Fox along with Rick Fox and Khalid Jones, Fox said in an interview with ESPN in August.
"It did start off with Amit and myself really digging into the Gravity purchase," he said at the time. "Khalid Jones was a part of that as well. This was the original guys up at Amit's house in the [Hollywood] Hills, really just getting into the nuts and bolts and how to enter esports responsibly and respectfully."
Last week, Fox issued an email obtained by Dexerto that detailed Fox's apparent intentions to "exit the Echo Fox organization as a shareholder and participant as soon as I am able to facilitate a transaction to do so."
In a statement released by Echo Fox on April 26 following that report from Dexerto, the team confirmed that Raizada's alleged use of racist language had been an issue multiple times in the past as well.
"Upon being made aware of the incidents, the Company [sic] has made various demands of the offending investor, including the investor's disassociation from the company and we [are] continuing to work diligently towards this end," part of the statement read.
Rick Fox has been involved in esports since 2015, when he purchased a League of Legends team. Echo Fox subsequently moved across the gaming world, especially into fighting games.
In speaking to TMZ, Fox acknowledged and lamented that there in no further legal action that could be taken in such a case.
"The unfortunate thing is being a racist in America is not illegal, unfortunately," Fox said. "He has his own economic interests and his own rights. So, no one is going to trample on his rights."
Fox later posted a brief message on Twitter that read "#EndRacism."
-- Field Level Media