Oakland’s Mayor Calls Disgraced NBA Star’s Restaurant a ‘Great Space’ for ‘Young People’ Despite Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors

The mayor of Oakland lauded the new restaurant of former NBA star Kevin Johnson as a “great space” for “young people” despite the former athlete’s history of allegations of sexual abuse against minors, SFGATE reported.

Johnson was an NBA player from 1987 to 1998 and served as mayor of Sacramento from 2008 to 2016. During his political career, allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced, including from Mandi Koba who accused Johnson of molesting her when she was 15 in 1996 when he was playing for the Phoenix Suns, according to a 2015 article from Deadspin. The article also reported Johnson paid the woman $230,000 to keep quiet.

Now, Johnson is focused on the restaurant business. The former mayor is opening a new location of Fixins, a soul food restaurant, in Oakland. The restaurant currently has locations in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

At an event announcing the new restaurant on Wednesday, Oakland Mayor Thao reportedly dodged questions about the athlete’s alleged troublesome history with minors.

“I’m here to really invest in the city of Oakland and this is going to be a beautiful space for community. This is going to be a great space for investing in local jobs for our young people, for people who believe that being in the restaurant business is where they want to be at,” Thao told the news outlet.

Thao also said she “will always support people and things investing in the city of Oakland and into my community to make it better and safer.” She denied supporting Johnson directly, instead saying Johnson was supporting Oakland with his new venture.

Thao was not the only person to celebrate the former athlete and politician’s new venture in the city. Former Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris and comedian Mark Curry were among the others praising Johnson for opening a location in Oakland, SFGATE reported. 

Johnson opened his first location of Fixins in Sacramento in 2019 – three years after his re-election campaign to secure a third term as that city’s mayor had been marred by new accusations.

In 2016, two former students at a Sacramento charter school alleged in an HBO special that Johnson groped them when they were underage, according to the Sacramento Bee. Johnson has denied the allegations, the outlet reported.