According to an alleged recording of LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling, Sterling does not like black people. He was overheard telling his girlfriend not to invite them to his games or post photos of them on Instagram.
On the recording, Sterling was having an argument with his girlfriend, V. Stiviano, who is half black and half Mexican. Stiviano often posts photos of herself and various athletes on Instagram. Some of her most recent posts include photos of her and Magic Johnson.
Sterling appeared to be angry at these posts and is overheard saying,
“It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?”
Stiviano replied that she took the photos because she admires Johnson and Sterling continued to make racist remarks about Johnson and other African Americans.
His comments were not taken lightly and many people have spoken out about them with disgust, including Michael Jordan.
“I look at this from two perspectives – as a current owner and a former player. As an owner, I’m obviously disgusted that a fellow team owner could hold such sickening and offensive views. I’m confident that Adam Silver will make a full investigation and take appropriate action quickly. As a former player, I’m completely outraged. There is no room in the NBA – or anywhere else – for the kind of racism and hatred that Mr. Sterling allegedly expressed…. In a league where the majority of players are African-American, we cannot and must not tolerate discrimination at any level,” said Jordan.
President Obama was also deeply offended by Sterling’s comments and released a statement about them saying,
“When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don’t really have to do anything, you just let them talk.”
Sterling’s team, the LA Clippers were also very hurt and angry by his racist remarks and wore their shooting shirts and practice jerseys inside-out before their playoff game as a form of protest. They also tossed their warm up jackets with the team name on them in the center of the court.
LA Clippers have taken the court and turned their warm up shirts inside out in protest of racist comments by owner: pic.twitter.com/y8QNR2ddVk
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) April 27, 2014
The NBA is currently investigating the tapes and has not said if or how they plan to punish Sterling if the tapes are determined to be authentic.
“All members of the NBA family should be afforded due process and a fair opportunity to present their side of any controversy, which is why I’m not yet prepared to discuss any potential sanctions against Donald Sterling,” said NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
What do you think of Sterling’s racist remarks?
Image via YouTube