Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy weighs in on LeBron James calling Boston racist

BOSTON -- More than a week has passed since basketball superstar -- and stakeholder in the Boston Red Sox -- LeBron James stated on television that the city of Boston is racist. More specifically, James said that Boston is "racist as f---."

The Red Sox haven't had anything to say about James' comments since they were made, but in his radio interview with the Greg Hill Show on Tuesday, team CEO Sam Kennedy was asked for his comments on LeBron's assertion.

"I certainly understand the issue, and it's difficult when you have an entire city or a region painted with a broad brush, as you say. But I do want to address [the comments] and I appreciate the opportunity," Kennedy said. "At the outset, I certainly do not speak for Lebron James. I've never walked in is shoes, I've never experienced what he's experienced, obviously. No one on planet Earth has. So it would be inappropriate and just not right for me to opine on on his comments. Just wouldn't be appropriate. But I can tell you that we've got 30-plus investors or limited partners in the Fenway Sports Group. Fenway Sports Group is the parent company of the Red Sox. It's the entity that owns the Red Sox. And those limited partners, including LeBron James, do not speak for the Red Sox. Those of us in the front office, we speak for the Red Sox. And look, we we know that racism exists in every city in America, including Boston, unfortunately. That said, we've got the best sports fans in the country. We've got the best baseball fans in the country. So that's the Red Sox perspective, and where we where we stand on it."

Kennedy was asked if anybody from Red Sox ownership or the front office would reach out to James to have a discussion about the comments. Kennedy didn't answer that question but instead spoke about the efforts this ownership group has made to combat racism and hate speech in and around Fenway Park.

"Look, we've worked hard. We've been here for 20 years and we've tried to be a positive force of change in the city of Boston, and that starts by winning championships on the field. All of the major sports teams have won championships here over the last two decades. We've also tried to make Fenway Park a welcoming, warm, hospitable place for our fans, our players, our employees. I think we've made great strides, but the work is never done," Kennedy said. "We love that our fans are intense and give us a competitive advantage at Fenway, in our other venues. And when they do that, you know, look, we've got three-plus million people coming through our gates every year and the overwhelming majority of our fans come in and they honor our code of conduct and behave in the right way. And look, unfortunately, there's a small minority of people from time to time over the past two decades that have violated that code of conduct, and we've taken a strong stand on that. So we acknowledge that, we know that it happens, and there's just no place for racism or hate speech anywhere, and especially in our sports venues. 

"So it's something we've worked really hard at," Kennedy continued. "And so we acknowledge that when these incidents happen, they're unfortunate, and they can sometimes cause people to paint all of Boston in a certain way. And I understand that that's frustrating as someone who grew up here and someone who loves this city as much as anybody and loves all of our teams. It can be challenging, but it just means we need to work harder, and we need to keep the dialogue open and continue to support each other as a sports community and support our players and hope that we can continue to be a force for good and positive change. I've seen a lot of change in our city, being here most of my life, and I think that's that's a really powerful thing."

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• LeBron James