By Stephanie Guo
This past weekend, online tabloid TMZ posted an audio recording of NBA Clippers owner Donald Sterling criticizing his girlfriend, V. Stiviano, for “taking pictures with minorities” after she posted a photo of herself posing with Magic Johnson on her Instagram. In the clip, Stiviano replies, “People call you and tell you that I have black people on my Instagram, and it bothers you?” Sterling responds, “Yeah, it bothers me a lot that you want to… broadcast that you’re associating with black people.”
Stiviano herself is half-black, making Sterling’s comment double-edged, but faces allegations of having planned the whole exposé. As Clippers President Andy Roeser commented, “We do not know if [the tape] is legitimate or it has been altered. 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.”
Who is Donald Sterling? Sterling is an eighty-year-old businessman and former attorney born in Chicago, Illinois. He has owned the Clippers since 1981, but this isn’t the first time he’s made racist comments.
In 2009, former Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor filed a wrongful-termination lawsuit in which he claimed that Sterling had ‘plantation mentality.’ “Personally, I would like to have a white Southern coach coaching poor black players,” Sterling allegedly commented. In the same lawsuit, Baylor said that three top Clipper players – Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, and Sam Cassell – felt very uncomfortable about the fact that Sterling frequently brought women into the locker rooms to look at them. On at least one occasion, Sterling told the women, “Look at those beautiful black bodies.”
Unfortunately, Baylor’s lawsuit was rejected by the jury. But Sterling has faced other lawsuits linked to accusations of racism. In 2006, the US Department of Justice took housing-discrimination charges against Sterling for refusing to rent out apartments in his Los Angeles residential holdings to African Americans. “That’s because of all the blacks in this building, they smell, they’re not clean. … And it’s because of all of the Mexicans that just sit around and smoke and drink all day,” Sterling’s property supervisor Summer Davenport reported Sterling as once saying. When the dust cleared and the case was settled, Sterling ended up paying $2.75 million.
The NBA has never punished Sterling for these actions. If anything, up until now, NBA commissioner Adam Silver – who was worked for the NBA since 1992 – has feigned ignorance. However, this time around, the media firestorm generated by TMZ’s exposé has forced the NBA to act: Donald Sterling has been banned indefinitely from the NBA and fined $2.5 million dollars for his inappropriate conduct. Unfortunately, though, Sterling still owns the Clippers, so he retains a great deal of influence. The Board of Governors will probably attempt to force him to sell the team, but Sterling isn’t going to make it easy.
Onlookers can expect a long, protracted lawsuit to proceed for the next year or so as Sterling struggles to maintain his iron hold on the Clippers.