An audio recording purportedly of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling making racist remarks to his girlfriend is being investigated by the NBA.
In the recording, the man believed to be Sterling, owner of the NBA franchise, questions his girlfriend, V. Stiviano, about her association with minorities. TMZ reports that Stiviano, who is black and Mexican, posted a picture of her with Magic Johnson on Instagram, a photo that has since been removed.
“It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?” the man believed to be Sterling says. He continues, “You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it on that … and not to bring them to my games.”
NBA spokesman Mike Bass issued the following statement: “We are in the process of conducting a full investigation into the audio recording obtained by TMZ. The remarks heard on the recording are disturbing and offensive, but at this time we have no further information.”
The Clippers have opened their own investigation, team president Andy Roeser said in a statement.
“We have heard the tape on TMZ. We do not know if it is legitimate or it has been altered,” he said. “We do know that the woman on the tape — who we believe released it to TMZ — is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Sterling family alleging that she embezzled more than $1.8 million, who told Mr. Sterling that she would ‘get even.’
“Mr. Sterling is emphatic that what is reflected on that recording is not consistent with, nor does it reflect his views, beliefs or feelings. It is the antithesis of who he is, what he believes and how he has lived his life. He feels terrible that such sentiments are being attributed to him and apologizes to anyone who might have been hurt by them.
“He is also upset and apologizes for sentiments attributed to him about Earvin Johnson. He has long considered Magic a friend and has only the utmost respect and admiration for him — both in terms of who he is and what he has achieved. We are investigating this matter.”
Johnson wrote in a series of tweets that he would not attend another Clippers game while Sterling owned the team.
LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s comments about African Americans are a black eye for the NBA.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) April 26, 2014
More reaction
The players in the National Basketball Association spoke out Sunday about racist comments attributed to Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
The Clippers players staged a silent protest. As they warmed up for an NBA playoff game, the players removed their warmup shirts bearing team logos to reveal red T-shirts worn inside out, with the logos hidden. They finished warming up, removed the red shirts and played the game wearing their regular uniforms.
The National Basketball Players Association demanded Sterling be barred from all playoff games this season. The players also want an accounting of past accusations of racism against Sterling; an explanation of what kind of discipline might be issued; assurance that the league commissioner will work with the association; and assurance the investigation will be conducted swiftly.
And throughout the day, past stars including Michael Jordan slammed Sterling.
Sterling wasn’t there to see the protest or his team lose 118-97 to the Golden State Warriors.
He agreed to stay away from the game because of the controversy that heightened Sunday when the website Deadspin released an additional audio recording of a conversation that purports to be Sterling talking with girlfriend V. Stiviano earlier this month.
Neither Deadspin nor TMZ, which released a similar recording Saturday, said where they got the recordings. Stiviano’s lawyer’s office said Sunday that she didn’t release the recordings but that they’re legitimate.
“This office understands that the currently released audio tape of approximately 15 minutes is a portion of approximately one (1) hour of overall audio recording of Mr. Donald T. Sterling and Ms. Stiviano, and is in fact legitimate,” Mac E. Nehoray said in a news release. “Ms. Stiviano did not release the tape(s) to any news media.”
The 15-minute Deadspin recording purports to be Sterling talking with Stiviano about her Instagram photo feed. The photos include images of her with African-Americans, including NBA great Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
If authentic, the remarks seem to reflect Sterling’s embarrassment and frustration with Stiviano over her associating with African-Americans at Clippers games and for posting such pictures on her Instagram account.
Three NBA legends lashed out at Sterling Sunday.
Jordan, considered the league’s greatest player and now the majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, said: “As an owner, I’m obviously disgusted that a fellow team owner could hold such sickening and offensive views. … 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.”
NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was a Clippers special assistant coach in 2000, told CNN: “I know him. I know his voice. I am not surprised by this very much.”
But Abdul-Jabbar said Sterling was congenial in person and said he never heard any racist words from Sterling. Still, the recording shows a “repugnant attitude for someone to have, and for him to be an employer for so many people of color, it kind of blows your mind.”
Johnson, speaking on an ABC pregame show Sunday, said Sterling needs to go.
“He shouldn’t own a team any more. And he should stand up and say, ‘I don’t want to own a team any more,’ ” Johnson said.
Source: ESPN and CNN