NEW ORLEANS — A man who worked as a driver for Eddy Curry is suing the New York Knicks center, alleging Curry owes him money, sexually harassed him and berated him with racist slurs.
Curry denied the allegations.
“I’m shocked, really,” said Curry, who missed the Knicks’ 101-95 victory at New Orleans on Monday night with right knee soreness. “He approached my friends a while back, trying to get money. I just never, ever thought it would go past what it did, which was just idle threats, money-or-else kind of stuff.”
Dave Kuchinsky alleges in the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in New York that Curry owes him $93,000 in back pay and expenses.
Kuchinsky also accuses Curry of exposing himself and harassing the former driver, according to a story on the New York Post’s Web site.
Kuchinsky also said Curry referred to his Jewish heritage in a derogatory way and called him a “cracker,” “white slave,” “white devil” and “grandmaster of the KKK.”
Curry said he never made such comments.
“Everyone who knows me knows I’m not a racist. I’ve never made a comment like that, playing, or nothing,” Curry said. “Aside from the fact I wouldn’t do it because I’m not racist, I wouldn’t do it because I wouldn’t want someone to play with me like that. That’s incredible, man.”
Curry is married with four children. Now 26, he is in his eighth NBA season and fourth with the Knicks. He has played in only one game this season because of knee injuries.
The lawsuit comes a little more than a year after former Knicks team president and coach Isiah Thomas was found by a jury to have sexually harassed former team executive Anucha Browne Sanders. MSG, the company that owns the Knicks, was ordered to pay $11.6 million in damages.
Curry portrayed the lawsuit against him as a desperate ploy for money by Kuchinsky, who was his employee for three years ending last October.
“It’s like a prime example of you got to watch who’s around you,” Curry said. “This is a guy who I really thought he was my friend up until the last four, five months. I can’t even believe this happened. … I can’t believe it went this far. I can’t believe someone would represent something like that.”
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