Photo Credit: Danny Moloshok/AP
This was one of the ugliest moments in NBA history. TMZ, who has know become infamous for releasing videos that were never meant to be public, got their hands on audio secretly recorded of Los Angeles Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling making incredibly racist remarks. The tapes were recorded by Sterling’s alleged mistress V. Stiviano who claims she was not the one who gave TMZ the recordings.
On the tapes, he tells Stiviano about taking a picture with Lakers’ great Magic Johnson, “Admire him, bring him here, feed him, f**k him, but don’t put [Magic] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me.”
Once the tapes went public, Clippers players of all skin colors protested, wearing their warm up shirts inside out and tossing them in a circle at half court. In a sign of solidarity, Miami Heat followed suit.
During a bizarre sit down interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Sterling continued with his outlandish remarks. Some were aimed directly at Magic Johnson once again. He said, “What kind of a guy goes to every city, has sex with every girl, then he catches HIV? Is that someone we want to respect and tell our kids about? I think he should be ashamed of himself. I think he should go into the background. But what does he do for the black people? He doesn’t do anything.”
Sterling denied that he is a racist, claiming that he was baited into those things heard on the tapes. He tried to apologize, but no one was buying it including NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. In his first job as David Stern’s replacement, Silver banned Sterling for life from any NBA-related activities including attending Clippers practices and even being at the training facility. He was no longer allowed to make decisions concerning the team. Sterling later sold the team to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2.5 billion.
