NEW YORK — A new lawsuit by two Black former ball boys for the Brooklyn Nets alleges they were fired for their active role and vocal support for racial justice protests.
The New York Daily News reports Juwan Williams and Edward Bolden Jr. allege they were let go in November 2020 for joining social justice and Black Lives Matter protests that erupted that summer in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder.
In the lawsuit, filed Monday in Brooklyn Federal Court, the pair said their supervisor, Joe Cuomo, was against the protests and allegedly became uncomfortable with their discussions about the protests while at work —barring them from discussing racism and discrimination.
The suit states Williams and Bolden were also banned from "speaking to any Nets players regarding ongoing racial inequities in the nation."
However, the duo complain of a double standard that allowed Nets' players to speak out "because of the power they held," whereas they argue that their vocal support led to their firing on the same day.
After their firing, Williams and Bolden asked General Manager Sean Marks to investigate why they were terminated, which Marks reportedly agreed to.
The lawsuit states Cuomo told the team they were fired because they were "lazy."
“At no time during the entirety of Plaintiffs’ employment were either ever told that he was perceived as ‘lazy’ or unable to follow directions," the suit claims. “Notably, Cuomo did not share that purported view with Bolden or Williams on the day he ended their employment with the Nets. In fact, at no point during their employment did Cuomo tell Bolden or Williams that they were ‘lazy,’ did not follow direction, or had been underperforming."
Bolden claims he later learned he was "blacklisted" from working in the NBA entirely after he tried to find another role in the league.
“Bolden reasonably believes that Cuomo or someone at the Nets retaliated against him by telling the other NBA team not to hire Bolden or at least expressed concerns to that NBA team about hiring him because of the fact that he had complained to the Nets about race discrimination and retaliation,” the suit adds.
Nets spokesperson, Mandy Gutmann, told the Daily News that the team stood by their firings.
"Our company takes pride in the fact that our employees reflect the diverse community that we serve, including within the seasonal part-time team attendant positions in which the plaintiffs were previously employed,” she said. "All employment decisions are carefully and thoughtfully evaluated and we are entirely comfortable with the employment decision taken with respect to the plaintiffs."
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