Lakers Owner Jeanie Buss Recalls Horrifying Moment When Another NBA Owner Inappropriately Groped Her (VIDEO)
Jeanie Buss recently had a wide-ranging interview on “In Depth with Graham Bensinger” about how an NBA owner grabbed her butt during her first NBA Board of governors meeting.
The Los Angeles Lakers owner was left in complete shock that she couldn’t even react the way she had hoped.
“As we were waiting, taking a break from the meeting and everybody’s in line for the buffet for lunch during the lunch break, somebody grabs my ass,” Buss said on the show. “I turn around and I was so shocked. But it was like, again — if I didn’t have the confidence that my dad put in me, that was a moment where I wanted to shrink and to be nothing, that I would have, you know, gotten sick and said, ‘I gotta go.’ Do I really belong here? You know, I’m just really not one of the group, like I’m been singled out.
“It made me really self-conscious.”
This isn’t the first time she has spoken out about the incident, as she revealed it in her 2010 book Laker Girl. The alleged harassment actually happened in 1995, according to the Los Angeles Times.
She explained to Besinger how she wasn’t going to let the incident slide.
“I just gave him a dirty look, like back off,” Buss said. “And I stayed in the room. I realized that I might not be able to gain the respect of the existing ownership groups. But everybody that came after me, I could help them in the room because they’d be the new person.”
She stated she used the experience to try and make things much easier for other future owners.
“So, then the next new person was Mark Cuban. And I made sure that from day one, I put my hand out to him and said, ‘Hey, if I can help you understand any of this stuff, if there’s any questions, here’s my number. Call me now and I’ll help you and I’ll support you.’”
Buss, who became the controlling owner of the team upon the death of her father, Jerry Buss, in 2013, also spoke on how difficult it was at the start of her career due to being in a man-dominated profession.
“It was a heated negotiation. We’re around a conference table and I was getting bullied in a way that oftentimes happens to a woman — meaning, the guy used some four-letter words and when he did, he turned to me specifically and said, ‘No offense,’ ‘Pardon my language,’” Buss said. “And it was literally the tap on the head, little girl, you know, fragile, ‘I’m drawing attention to the fact you’re the only woman in the room.’
“And so I said, ‘Look, if you’re gonna apologize to me, you apologize to everybody in this room.’ In other words, you’re not gonna isolate me and make me feel less than anybody in this room. I’m an equal, and I belong here. I’ve heard other women have the same kinda circumstance.”
Buss runs the Los Angeles Lakers. She has led the team to championships and is the owner of one of the most successful franchises in NBA history.
Back in September, the Los Angeles Lakers president and comedian Jay Mohr tied the knot in an intimate beachside wedding ceremony in Malibu over Labor Day weekend.
