Anderson Cooper scored the first interview with 80 year-old LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who was banned from attending NBA games for life two weeks ago after audio was leaked of him saying horribly racist things. It is thought that the Board of Governors of the NBA, which consists of 23 team owners, will vote to force Sterling to sell the team and that Sterling will mount a legal defense. In the mean time he’s attempting to go on a PR offensive. Sterling’s interview with Cooper will air tonight.
We’ve already heard from Sterling’s either 31 or 38 year-old mistress, V. Stiviano, who is heard on the tape offering him juice and promising to remove photos of famous black athletes from her Instagram. It is thought that Stiviano leaked the recordings, although she has unconvincingly denied to be the source. Stiviano gave a weak performance in her interview with Barbara Walters last week, claiming that her sugar grandpa was not racist and that “he’s highly more traumatized and hurt by the things that he said himself.”
Despite Stiviano’s defense of her benefactor, in his Anderson Cooper interview Sterling blames Stiviano for the fact that he independently spouted racist sentiments. (Remember that he also called her “an enemy to me” because she’s half black.)
As even more background to this interview, Last week Radar Online released two audio recordings of Sterling claiming that he’s not racist and laughably defending his racism by saying he was trying to get Stiviano to sleep with him. He said “The girl is black. I like her. I’m jealous that she’s with other black guys. I want her. So what the hell, can I in private tell her, you know, ‘I don’t want you to be with anybody’?” Sterling’s defense to Anderson Cooper’s is just as nonsensical.
Sterling: When I listen to that tape, I don’t even know how I can say words like that. … I don’t know why the girl had me say those things.
Cooper: You’re saying you were set up?
Sterling: Well yes, I was baited. I mean, that’s not the way I talk. I don’t talk about people for one thing, ever. I talk about ideas and other things. I don’t talk about people.I don’t trust her and I just wish I could ask her why and if she was just setting me up. I think that people say she was taping me for 2 years. So maybe I was just fooling myself thinking for 2 years that she cared for me. She certainly acted like it.
Why it took him two weeks to ‘apologize’
Well that’s a very good question, I just I’m just so emotionally distraught, and the reason it’s hard for me, very hard for me is that I’m wrong. I caused the problem. I don’t know how to correct it.On how he’s not a racist
I’m not a racist. I made a terrible, terrible mistake. And I’m here with you today to apologize and to ask for forgiveness for all the people that I’ve hurt.I’m good member who made a mistake and I’m apologizing and I’m asking for forgiveness. Am I entitled to one mistake, am I after 35 years? I mean, I love my league, I love my partners. Am I entitled to one mistake? It’s a terrible mistake, and I’ll never do it again.
If the owners feel I have another chance, then they’ll give it to me.
He’s not racist, just jealous
I don’t know. An 80-year-old man is kind of foolish, and I’m kind of foolish. I thought she liked me and really cared for me. I guess being 51 years older than her, I was deluding myself. … I just wish I could ask her why, and if she was just setting me up.On if he’s talked to Magic Johnson, he slams Johnson
Yeah twice… he knew the girl well.If I said anything wrong, I’m sorry. He’s a good person. I mean, what am I going to say? Has he done everything he can do to help minorities? I don’t think so. But I’ll say it, he’s great. But I don’t think he’s a good example for the children of Los Angeles.
Sterling’s estranged wife, 79 year-old Shelly Sterling, is fighting for her 50% stake in the Clippers. She gave an interview to Barbara Walters in which she denied that her husband was racist but admitted that the things he said were horrible. “I’ve never heard him say racial things [before]. It was horrible when I heard it. It was just degrading and it made me sick to hear it… I don’t really think he is a racist.” Shelly also said that it wasn’t fair that she would be stripped of her ownership of the Clippers. If Sterling is forced to sell the team she would of course be thrilled if he transferred 100% ownership to her instead. (It is not likely that this will happen, as The VP of The National Basketball Players Association, Roger Mason, has said that players will not accept a member of the Sterling family as an owner.) Shelly also told Walters that her husband suffers from “the onset of dementia.” That makes a lot of sense, especially when you see this interview clip.
He really is racist but at same time his motive to say it was bc he had the hots for a young hot half black woman who was showing him pictures with good lucking athletic, younger, black men. He said what he said out of jealousy. He felt threatened as an old foolish white man.
So when he evicted all the black tenants from his apartment buildings that wasn’t racist at all, either? Donald Sterling has a long history of being racist.
If Anderson Cooper doesn’t nail him to the wall I will never be able to respect him as a journalist again.
Oh he’s for sure a racist.
Some more from his audio leaked.
‘DS: It’s the world! You go to Israel, the blacks are just treated like dogs.
V: So do you have to treat them like that too?
DS: The white Jews, there’s white Jews and black Jews, do you understand?
V: And are the black Jews less than the white Jews?
DS: A hundred percent, fifty, a hundred percent.
V: And is that right?
DS: It isn’t a question—we don’t evaluate what’s right and wrong, we live in a society. We live in a culture. We have to live within that culture.
V: But shouldn’t we take a stand for what’s wrong? And be the change and the difference?
DS: I don’t want to change the culture, because I can’t. It’s too big and too [unknown].
V: But you can change yourself.
DS: I don’t want to change. If my girl can’t do what I want, I don’t want the girl. I’ll find a girl that will do what I want! Believe me. I thought you were that girl—because I tried to do what you want. But you’re not that girl.’
Right, basically he’s saying I think white people are more than black people and if you don’t like the way I think, I’ll find another girl.
Thank you Donald for reminding us that Black/Latina p*ssy is so powerful it can make you say things you don’t mean. Give money you want to keep.
I’m shocked women aren’t paid more, given that old white men are so easily swayed.
LOL
*dry laugh* Nice use of sarcasm, Niki!
As a dual possesor of both, I am here to confirm these facts Nikki… Of Course it was “the Girl”
Ah-ha! Now I know why your comments are so great…you possess ULTIMATE POWER! *bows down*
The girl? The girl made him say those things? The girl? No matter whether she is 31 or 38 years old, she is NOT a girl. She stopped being a girl at age 18. No, him being 80 years old does not make it acceptable to call a woman “girl.” He’s a businessman who did not retire 30 years ago; he is still active in the world governed by the EEOC. No, no “girl” made him say anything. It is long past time this man accepted responsibility for his own words and deeds and his bigotry, which includes racism and sexism.
Wow. He can’t even be bothered to remember her name? Alzheimer’s ?
Though I agree 100% with the league’s decision to ban Sterling, I don’t quite understand why they wouldn’t let his wife / soon to be ex wife retain ownership? Is there something here that I’m not seeing? Or is she “guilty by association?”
She’s no innocent:
“An apartment tenant and managers claimed the wife of embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling denigrated African Americans, Latinos and once posed as a health inspector, according to court records.
Rochelle Sterling denied she is a racist in a statement released to ESPN earlier this week and distanced herself from remarks captured on an audio recording said to be of her husband. The court documents offer a different perspective.
In a 2009 deposition, a tenant at one of the Sterling’s apartment buildings in Los Angeles County said that Rochelle Sterling called him a “black m—f—” during a discussion at the building.”
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-court-documents-donald-sterling-wife-20140429-story.html#TmYb6sgRZrxQ3eJb
It’s in the League’s constitution that if ownership is terminated it is effective toward all owners of said team. She doesn’t stand a chance, guilty or not.
The league players will not accept a member of the Sterling family. That’s enough said.
She’s done some shady things( posing as a health inspector) in the past concerning apartments they own, so she’s just like him. They were sued and had to pay.
She’s just like him and the players probably know it.
Ahhh, I getcha. Thanks for the clarification. I knew he’d been sued before (for refusing to rent to minorities and so on) but didn’t know that she’d been accused as well.
I saw that video where the tenant asked her if she was so and so from the Health Department and she answers yes. Does that mean it’s not a crime to impersonate a state official? Is that only for law enforcement or federal level?
She’s as bad as he is (not admitting he is). Of course she’ll defend him. She has to go too.
God, these three are all disgusting in their own special ways. “I don”t know why I said those things”. HAHAHA! It’s because that is who you are, you f*cking liar. And you are sorry as hell you got busted, by your “archivist”, no less. Gross fool. As for his wife, ewww. She is just as bad-I can’t believe that love story didn’t work out. And then there is the mistress. Wow, what a great example of feminism. Sit up and pay attention Shailene, Miley, et al. This is what a feminist is not.
That doesn’t even matter. Even if she was a blameless angel who operated a soup kitchen and knitted socks for the homeless, she would be forced to give up her shares of the team. As Gigi mentioned, it’s in the NBA contract that if the majority owner is forced to sell, all the minority owners must, too.
Her lawyer’s defense is that the California state laws and something in the Constitution override the NBA contract, but this is the contract that’s been upheld for years, so I don’t see where they really have a leg to stand on. but it’s not really about winning, anyway. They just need to keep it tied up in court long enough for Daniel Sterling to die. If they have to sell while he’s alive, they’ll have to pay hundreds of millions in capital gains taxes. If they sell after he dies, they’ll pay a much smaller, relatively insignificant estate tax.
They will probably not sell. They have the resources to tie this up in court for years to come. I also feel the NBA can’t use this illegal recording as evidence against him.
JessMa: I just read he’s having some trouble finding a (reputable) law firm that will take him on.
The owners are supposed to police one another and co-owners bear responsibility for what their partners do. It is part of the ownership terms with the league.
i dont know her or if the team has a right to not like her and i see why you dont think its right. but giving it to someone in the family wont diminish his power in the club. he would still be the de facto owner, just not legally. so i can understand it.
if she gets 50% of the money when the team is sold thats fair.
I think it is because she owns 50% of HIS share. She doesn’t have an agreement with the NBA. If they sever his ties with the league, she has nothing to stand on because her ownership rights were tied to his.
Dude…you’re 80 years old. You said it …now own your shi#t. I tired of all these damm pseudo victims!!!!!!!
Dementia is real and it is bizarre. Not saying this is definitely the case with this guy, but it makes people act and speak very uncharacteristically. A dear friend’s loving father has it. He now calls her fat and ugly. It is heartbreaking.
He doesn’t strike me as a dementia patient and I have dealt with countless numbers of them he is simply trying to shift blame and not own up to his reprehensible actions and behavior. This man,his estranged wife and his archivist (who looks like a man with an over plucked brow line) are a textbook case on how to orchestrate a public relations train wreck. I agree with you dementia patients can be cruel and some really fixate on their caregivers and loved ones
Did he have dementia when he tried to evict all those black tenants from the property he owned? I doubt it. He’s a racist through and through, regardless of dementia, it’s just that his true colors are showing now.
BOTH my grandparents had severe Alzheimer’s towards the end of their lives. Throughout their lives, they were known as two of the kindest, most accepting people ever. When vacationing in the Catskills in the 50’s, they deliberately welcomed a bi-racial couple as dining companions – the only ones in the entire resort to do so.
And at the end of their lives, in the throes of their dementia, guess what? NO RACISM from either of them. Those are the people I come from. Thank goodness.
“the girl…the girl…she made me”…now he’s playing the “dementia” card? These people are train wrecks in both directions.
NAH.
He reminds me so much of Silvio Berlusconi. Creep all the way.
Maybe he has Alzheimer’s. Just a thought. I used to work at an Alzheimer’s and the people there would say all sorts of things because they were confused. Most of the CNAs were African American and it was not uncommon to hear the n-bomb dropped from the nicest old people… People who’d be embarrassed about their behavior. I’m not sure if that’s the case here, nor am I trying to excuse it — it’s just possible.
My father is a nurse at a retirement home and he’s been called that. Alzheimer’s isn’t an excuse, in my opinion, that’s how that person feels, but they just can’t or won’t filter themselves any longer.
Umm, my mom used to work at a nursing home–and if there were ever going to be a nursing home full of ignorant, racist people–that would’ve been it. There was only ever ONE racist old lady there–and she was equal opportunity. Whenever they would do something she didn’t like (like try to give her a bath), she’d start screaming at them, calling them the n-word–no matter what race they actually were.
Contrast to that, there was a guy there that was a hundred years old—he couldn’t see, couldn’t hear–UNLESS there was a woman standing next to him. Then he’d be trying to whisper in their ear…he used to tell my mom that she smelled nice all the time. And one day he told her that if he could do it all over again, he’d marry a black woman…such a dirty old man.
I thought this too. From the beginning, it was so weird that I figured he has dementia.
Even if he has Alzheimer’s/dementia, he’s been accused of being racist for DECADES, especially towards his tenants. This is just the first time it was on tape.
And yes, dementia doesn’t just make you magically racist, it just makes you lose your filter. So all those “nice old people”? They were thinking the n-word in their heads the whole time, and it just made them say it out loud.
This exactly. He hasn’t had Alzheimers for 35 years.
My Mom has Alzheimers and while that does happen, this is NOT the case here. He doesn’t have dementia (because if he did, he would not be lucid enough to have relations with someone half his age or sit with a whole interview with Anderson Cooper.) He’s just a racist asshat.
So Sterling throws shade at Magic Johnson for not being a “good example” for the children of Los Angeles and yet he is caught on tape saying racist things, having a much younger mistress while still being married? All I can say is shut up Donald! Sell the team and go off to some island and spend the rest of your life counting your money and taking a good long look at your life and why people dislike you. Also take that mistress of yours and her budget Battlestar Galactica cylon mask with you. The rest of the human race will be fine without you
I took it as a reference to the fact that Magic Johnson admitted to cheating on his wife with other women, which is how he became infected with HIV. It’s a trope as old as the disease itself. People felt very sorry for people who contracted it through transfusions, but people who contracted it through sex deserved it. Never mind that Johnson, by coming forward, did do a big thing for HIV awareness, specifically by showing that HIV is not a “gay” disease and that straight people can get it. Also never mind that Johnson has raised millions of dollars for HIV research and support.
Donald Sterling is not fit to carry Magic Johnson’s shoes.
“if I said anything wrong, I apologize” he doesn’t think he did anything wrong! and then to badmouth magic johnson! get that old b@astard outta there!
Wow, keep digging that hole, Sterling. I can’t believe how badly this has been handled, he just keeps making it worse. He should apologize for real (no “if I said anything wrong” BS), put the team up for sale and quietly go off with all of his money.
He has been sued for discrimination in the past and lost, both in his employment practices and his rental policies in the apartments he owns. It isn’t the onset of dementia; it is a lifelong pattern of bigotry.
There’s something missing from this story that I don’t understand. It just doesnt feel as though all the facts are being presented because the focus is on what he said. There are no excuses for saying what he did but at the same time it seems so manufactured.
What could possibly be missing?
Yes the focus is squarely on what he said, as it should be.
The conversation leaked to the press , while repugnant, was still a private conversation. The last time I checked, we have the right to privacy. Most of us have said things in private we would not want recorded and leaked to the press. The last time I checked, no one can force him to sell private property, either. Understand he is having a hard time finding legal counsel. Guess the big firms don’t want to touch this with a 10 foot pole. My point is, the guy still has rights. Last time I checked. Have a good day.
While I find what he said disgusting, I’m with you. Unless there is some sort or morality clause in his NBA contract, it would be wrong to take away his property because of what he said in a private conversation.
However, I thinks it’s BS that everyone is wringing their hands about this now. He’s been a racist and overall terrible person since the get-go. Everyone in LA knew this, the league knew it for years. They’re just acting now because it’s been made national news, more out of embarrassment than true moral outrage.
Agreed! Thank you!!
I still think the Magic Johnson stuff is weird too. I wouldn’t be surprised if Johnson became the new owner of the Clippers after this.
That’s exactly why they got rid of him. He violated the NBA’s morality code.
I read that one of the top execs at the NAACP resigned over this. He stated that they all knew what this man stood for but still wanted his money — so much so, that they were willing to turn a blind eye & give him a number of awards thru the years. I agree with TX on her statement of
“They’re just acting now because it’s been made national news, more out of embarrassment than true moral outrage. ”
Franchises are not subject to the same rules as “private” property. Look it up.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/07/us/clippers-donald-sterling/
I did look it up and I was right. The only way they can force a sale is through a morality clause. And maybe I wasn’t clear- while the team itself is not private property, the shares he ownes of the team certainly are (the reason he is the owner is because he ownes the majority of shares).
She made me say those things?? Are you freaking kidding me? There was no distress in his voice. She may have asked what could be calling leading questions but he was happy to let her know his thoughts. Any distress could be from his admitted jealousy but really old man? Even the way you describe that sense of feeling is decidedly creepy and icky.
These weren’t one-off unfortunate comments that he doesn’t really think or subscribe to. I believe this is a deep-rooted attitude and he’s embarrassed and bewildered that it’s come out in this fashion. His estranged wife is on the same page but she’s more wily but I don’t believe she doesn’t have some of the same outlook. She just doesn’t have a young stud around to record her real thoughts after she lets her guard down.
Yes, ladies, your vulvae are responsible for everything that happens in this world! Your evil, fanged, tentacle vulvae! Mine just went out for a walk and ended up destroying 1/4th of the Polar ice cap. This week, my vulva is about to cause 3 earthquake tremors across the world, cause Avril Lavigne to release another song and eat a 6 year old’s homework. It’s all our fault! Rejoice! We are so powerful.
Lol. I think I love you! My co-workers are looking at me funny for laughing so loudly
There’s something positively Lovecraftian about your post!
I love it, Maya Memsaab.
I can forgive your vulva for everything except the Avril Lavigne thing.
LOL!!
Too funny; ;would someone – anyone’s – vulva please destroy these three unappealing characters, and also Avril Lavigne – She is releasing new “music” why, Isn’t there enough sucky music today?
Bahahahahahaha.
Cheers, everyone! Apologies, have to rush. My vulva is also the Mother of Dragons and the babies are acting out again.
HA!
AND a Sci Fi Fanista to boot! Is there NOTHING your vulva can’t do? We are not worthy.
I hope the full interview is far better than this. If he is not a racist, then how does he explain having to pay huge fines for racially discriminating in the housing he owns? I equate this a lot to Paula Deen – if some stupid comments were the extent of the issue, MAYBE he could convince people he didn’t mean it and was just being stupid. But it’s all the other stuff on top of it. He has a pretty serious racist history – look up some of the things he said during a court battle with another former girlfriend – along with the housing stuff. From the reports out there, his views have been pretty well-known for a long time. He has a long, nasty racial history, and I hope he gets called on it.
Ugly family, literally and figuratively.
He said those things in private. No, racism isn’t right. Yes, it’s asinine to bite the hands that feed. And yes, he’s an old codger who needs just roll up and die. But, those were his private musings. They were not public statements. Countless amounts of people would lose things and disgust the world were their private musings aired. Celebs and us regulars.
Not really. I don’t say that shit in private.
You don’t have racist tirades in the privacy of your own home, kiddo?
Yeah I’m also conflicted about the use of privately-taped conversations to take somebody’s business away. That being said, someone (I think it was Tiffany) pointed out the fact that the comments were work-related—he was speaking about employees, so not like it was irrelative.
Ultimately I’m not gonna shed a tear because there’s one less a-hole in a position of power.
It was work related. Make no mistake, I can have tirades, but they aren’t racist.
Agreed, Kiddo. I have not once ever thought like him, let alone had a racial tirade.
The thing is, aenflex, Donald Sterling has been making public racist statements for decades! The argument of framing his vile racist remarks as private freedom of speech is disingenuous and categorically false.
2009 — Sterling told his former Clippers’ General Manager Elgin Baylor, “Personally, I would like to have a white Southern coach coaching poor black players. Do you think that’s a racist statement?” Elgin replied, “Absolutely. That’s plantation mentality.'”
Three Clippers players — Sam Cassell, Elton Brand, and Corey Maggette — are on record complaining Sterling brought women into the locker room to look at the players and said to one of the women, “Look at those beautiful black bodies.”
2006 — The Department of Justice brought housing-discrimination charges against Sterling. He’s quoted as saying “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.”
According to testimony, he asked: “Is she one of those black people that stink?”
1983 — Prospective Clippers coaching candidate Rollie Massimino says that Sterling told him, “I wanna know why you think you can coach these n*****s.”
Kitten, Donald Sterling is NOT being banned or stripped of his team for private musings, and any spin otherwise is propaganda. This latest spew of hate is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Finally, the League is saying “NO MORE!”
http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-sterling-racist-history-2014-4
@Sloane….you had me until the last paragraph.
The NBA has had PLENTY of opportunities (as you documented so thoroughly here) to take this guy down. I find it sad that it took the wide publicity behind his mistress’s private recordings to spur them into action. Unfortunately, it’s usually the financial loss resulting from a negative public fallout that gets a corporation or a franchise to start paying attention. In the end, money talks and ethics walk.
I’m happy this is happening to him-he deserves it-but the cynic in me is disgusted that it took this long. The incidents you detail here are as bad if not worse than the recordings and I find it rather appalling that the NBA swept them under the rug for so long. I’m not a TMZ fan but you have to give them credit for breaking this story–Sterling’s abuses would have likely continued for years if the negative backlash had not been so decisively strong.
Anyway, better late than never I guess. I still think that the NBA should not be applauded. I think Silver, being new to the commissioner position, handled it well, but Sterling should have been held accountable a LONG time ago. So yes, sadly it IS the recordings that led to him being exposed as a racist. I never heard anything about his racist past until his mistress recorded him.
Shit. I hate it when I oversell it! 🙂
LOL! I just hope this pathetic old racist loses any power he has left…..
This guy has some serious mental issues, but his past show that he also has some racist issues as well. His estranged wife is a kook, this V person is a money grubber as well. I’m not a Magic fan either…now he’s a hero?! Sorry, look at his past too, he was not very nice to his wife when he played in the NBA, let’s not give him a bunch of accolades just because he was in an unfortunate photo op… This is a train wreck of a mess. The entire Sterling family needs removed and let this team go on the auction block to an owner that cares and knows something about the NBA because this is a good team that doesn’t deserve this crap!
I don’t know this mans past history as I haven’t read much about this incident. Just responding to comments about a person suffering with dementia, who makes outrageous, hurtful, obscene, hateful etc etx comments – this is *not* reflective of “who they really are without filters” and other similar comments. Anyone who would say that has no concept of the ravages that dementia inflicts on the brain. If you’ve had friends or family members who have lived all their lives in harmony with everyone, who treated everyone with the utmost respect because that is how their hearts truly were – and then have seen them shrivel away due to any one of the many dementias, you’ll know what I mean.
One form – I can’t think of its name as it’s not what my own Dad had, which was vascular dementia – damages a specific portion of the brain so severely that the person inevitably becomes very sexually fixated, makes lewd and inappropriate comments and advances, sometimes even to family members.
These dementias are not things to be joked about – and to call anyone an ‘old codger who just deserves to die’ is so cruel. Maybe he’s always been a horrible, mean person, I don’t know – but as he apparently has cancer and perhaps dementia as well, where is our charity and forgiveness for someone so ill?
His speech and words are so bizarre, I can’t believe everyone didn’t immediately think that this is someone ill, who is behaving and talking ‘off the rails,’ and at least to some degree irrational. He deserves pity and compassion, to some degree, if he is in fact as ill as it seems he may be.
He has a history of racist actions going back many years. If he is ill, then it’s all the more reason for him to give up the team. Healing happens after there is justice. That doesn’t mean killing him or wishing him dead, but there’s nothing wrong with desiring that he and his wife go away, and that money doesn’t ultimately trump treating others with dignity and respect.
I think I have to disagree for a few reasons:
1.) This isn’t a new thing for Sterling. His racism has been a well-known thing within the NBA for years. He’s also the same guy who paid big money because he was discriminating against minorities in housing. Even if we accept that he has dementia now, it cannot account for his long and colorful history with race.
2.) Sterling still manages to operate and make the decisions for a multi-million dollar NBA team, which makes his claim suspect.
I don’t see anyone here mocking people who truly do have dementia. I do see people expressing skepticism that Sterling has it, or at the very least arguing that even if he DOES, it does not account for his previous racist behaviors and we can still think he’s a terrible person for that.
You’re a nice person, Shelley. Agree with you about dementia. My cousin is a caregiver to elderly people in their homes and she has to deal with a man who’s got the sexually fixated dementia. She’s bloody brilliant, actually, as she got him to stand down by telling him she had a secret to tell him that he couldn’t tell anyone because she’d get fired. So he was quite curious about her secret and she leaned in and whispered “I’m really a man, but I’ll lose my job if they find out”. He was amazed, and told her her disguise was really good. She said, “of course it is; how do you think I got the job?” Now he thinks they have this great secret!
My cousin’s a wonderful person; she deserves a zillion medals for what she does.
People don’t normally have dementia for 35+ years though. He has been this way for decades. I agree with your excellent summation about Alzheimers/Dementia, but this is most certainly not the case with this man.
I just LOVE how people say all these racist things, numerous times over the course of many years, caught on tape even in a few circumstances, and then have the gall to turn around and say “I’m not racist”. My god, who does he think he is kidding?
Because being a racist to a woman always works. Yeah, multiracial women love that. He needs to go into retirement.
It is incredibly difficult to make a housing discrimination claim stick and get it all the way to litigation. Tenants are notoriously afraid to come forward. The fact that the Sterling family has been sued TWICE for housing discrimination — just sued mind you — means there was airtight proof of their bigotry. When he suggest on tape that you can’t compare slavery to the Holocaust that is another indicator of ignorant racism. Slavery cost the black community nearly 20 million lives. After all the guy says white Jews are better than black Jews. That is racism right there. V Stiviano didn’t bait him to talk about Israeli racism.
I wish they wouldn’t make excuses and just apologise with no caveats.
It’s on tape. Whether or not he was baited, you can’t get away from that.
I first became aware of Donald Sterling right after high school (a long time ago), when I read an article about what a heartless crook he is. Since then, I have read or heard countless bad things about him, and his wife. They are horrible people and I will be so happy to see them banished from the NBA. For years and years, he hardly put anything into the Cllippers, he didn’t care if they ever won, he bragged about it even, saying he always made money on them and that is all that mattered. We watched the AC interview tonite. It was mind blowing. Anyway, just wanted to point out that he and his wife have been loathed by the general population here in L.A. for decades.
It’s disturbing how some commenters on here are trying to defend his actions as a sign of mental decline that he’s suffered from for over 35 years and even have the nerve to suggest that he somehow deserves compassion – seriously?
What’s done/said in the dark always comes to light – at least the truth about his extremely ignorant and hurtful words and sentiments are coming out now.
She is “the girl” because he can’t remember her name. He interviews like a person with moderate dementia. That is not an excuse. Dementia concentrates the premorbid personality, so he has always been a racist. Now, it’s just a little more virulent and expressed more easily due to poor judgment. Hope he is conserved!