The owner of one of the NBA’s best known basketball franchises is at the centre of a racism row that has led to him receiving a heavy fine and a lifetime ban from future involvement in the NBA.
Donald Sterling, owner of the LA Clippers, appears to have been recorded telling a former girlfriend not to publicly associate with black people despite the fact she is half African American.
On the recording, a voice alleged to be Sterling’s is heard telling Vanessa ‘V’ Stiviano to remove photographs of her posing alongside black people – including basketball legend and supposed ‘friend’ of Sterling, Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, from her Instagram page. She is also told not to bring black friends to Clippers games.
When Miss Stiviano responds, “Do you know that you have a whole team that’s black, that plays for you?” the male voice is heard to say, “Do I know? I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses,” ignoring the inconvenient truth that the crowds pay to see the players and buy merchandise in their image .
Later in the conversation, Miss Stiviano likens the stance of Sterling, a Jew, to that which gave rise to the Holocaust.
In a statement, the LA Clippers appear to suggest the recording is not authentic, saying, “We don’t know if [the tape] has been altered.”
The Statement goes on, “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.”
The following excerpt is from the transcript of a 15-minute conversation allegedly between LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling (DS) and his, then, girlfriend, V. Stiviano (V), who identifies herself as part Mexican and part African American:
V: I don’t understand, I don’t see your views. I wasn’t raised the way you were raised.
DS: Well then, if you don’t feel—don’t come to my games. Don’t bring black people, and don’t come.
V: Do you know that you have a whole team that’s black that plays for you?
DS: You just, do I know? I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? Do I know that I have—Who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make the game? Is there 30 owners, that created the league?
V: Honey, if it makes you happy, I will remove all of the black people from my Instagram.
DS: You said that before, you said, ‘I understand.’
V: I DID remove the people that were independently on my Instagram that are black.
DS: Then why did you start saying that you didn’t? You just said that you didn’t remove them. You didn’t remove every—
V: I didn’t remove [LA Dodgers baseball player] Matt Kemp and Magic Johnson, but I thought—
DS: Why?
V: I thought Matt Kemp is mixed, and he was OK, just like me.
DS: OK.
V: He’s lighter and whiter than me.
DS: OK.
V: I met his mother.
DS: You think I’m a racist, and wouldn’t—
V: I don’t think you’re a racist.
DS: Yes you do. Yes you do.
V: I think you, you—
DS: Evil heart.
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.
V: It’s like saying, ‘Let’s just persecute and kill all of the Jews.’
DS: Oh, it’s the same thing, right?
V: Isn’t it wrong? Wasn’t it wrong then? With the Holocaust? And you’re Jewish, you understand discrimination.
DS: You’re a mental case, you’re really a mental case. The Holocaust, we’re comparing with—
V: Racism! Discrimination.
DS: There’s no racism here. If you don’t want to be… walking… into a basketball game with a certain… person, is that racism?
