Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert is responding after a controversial graphic on a downtown Detroit building caused a stir over the weekend.
The poster on the first floor windows of the Vinton building featured the slogan "See Detroit Like We Do," with a photo, but had no African American people in the photo. Gilbert is the founder of Quicken Loans and Bedrock Detroit.
"We screwed up badly the graphic package that was partially installed on the retail windows of the first floor of the Vinton Building," Gilbert posted on the Bedrock Detroit Facebook Page.
Gilbert said they screwed up in two ways. The first, he said, was with the "See Detroit As We Do" campaign.
"Who cares how 'we see Detroit?!'" he wrote. "What is important is that Detroit comes together as a city that is open, diverse, inclusive and is being redeveloped in a way that offers opportunities for all of its people and the expected numerous new residents that will flock to our energized, growing, job-producing town where grit, hard-work and brains meld together to raise the standard of living of all of its people."
He also added that they have killed the campaign.
Another way Gilbert said they messed up was because the entire graphics package was not installed. Instead, workers put up a portion of the installation on Friday.
"The graphic that was completed Friday was unfortunately, not diverse or inclusive when looked at by itself," he wrote. "The remaining graphics were scheduled to be installed and completed early this upcoming week.
"The full graphic package that was slated to be installed across all of the retail windows on the Vinton Building was a very inclusive and diverse set of images that reflects the population of the city that we do business in and also reflects the diversity among our own workforce in Detroit," he added.
The graphic caused quite the stir from Detroiters over the weekend, with many people pointing out that no African Americans were featured despite the city being nearly 83 percent black, according to the 2010 Census.
You can read the entire statement below.
