Clippers owner Donald Sterling "don't bring black people to my games"

[asian player]

You really seem to be defending the guy aren't you? I really don't know why you keep defending him and excusing his actions.

How would you feel if you don't evrn have the luxury of speaking your mind in your own home? Can you honestly say you've never said anything nasty? He merely stated that he doesn't like a certain group of people. He did not actually say anything nasty about them. How would you feel if you had to pay $2.5 million for saying something in your own home? This is preposterous

[Mr. Ambien]

How would you feel if you don't evrn have the luxury of speaking your mind in your own home? Can you honestly say you've never said anything nasty? He merely stated that he doesn't like a certain group of people. He did not actually say anything nasty about them. How would you feel if you had to pay $2.5 million for saying something in your own home? This is preposterous

Obviously no one is concerned with anything other than reacting and following the media's lead, so you can forget about that.

[Gross-Misconduct]

Can we please stop calling this 31 yr old woman his girlfriend. 31 yr old women do not date 80 yr old geezers. Unless the octogenarian is rich and can buy the 31 yr old woman's time. Which makes her a prostitute. That's all the 'girlfriend' was. A paid prostitute. Instead of buying her by the hour, he bought her in 24 hr blocks. This old racist deserves everything he's going through.

[etsen3]

There are genuine racists out there that deserve this kind of attention. There's more to the notion that this guy had a target on his back than he's some racist that deserves the axe that was dropped on his head for this. Way over the top.

I suggest you research Sterling's past history if you think he's not a genuine racist.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/29/donald-sterling-racism-history_n_5228992.html

Sterling has been accused of specifically envisioning "a team of poor black players with a white southern head coach". He was also sued for discriminating against black and latino renters for his housing developments (which is probably the worst thing he's done race-wise).

He was born and raised in an age of segregation guys. He was literally old enough to see blacks sit in the back of the bus and see blacks drink from seperate fountaind. He was raised to view blacks a certain way and he still feels that way about them. Is he not allowed to speak his mind in his own home? People need to break this down and realize that what he said wasn't even that bad.. He just made it clear that he isn't too fond of black people. Welcome to the internet folks! If you're offended by this, you should probably stay away from the internet.

I can't help but think that you have some racist feelings deep down inside. If he's allowed to speak his mind, others are allowed to criticize him for it and the NBA is allowed to take appropriate actions. His comments are offensive, it's not like he was joking and people took it the wrong way, his words are a direct insult. Put yourself in a black person's shoes and think about how you would feel if someone disrespected you in this manner.

The vast majority of old people I know are not racist. Even though they were raised in a racist era, they were open-minded and intelligent enough to change their minds. There is no excuse for Donald Sterling's attitude in this day and age.

[DefCon1]

It's not the slavery days anymore (you're what, a century or two late now?), if it were, the guy wouldn't simply be whining about his girlfriend acting slutty on instagram, he'd be using vastly different language. The fact that anyone would even compare something like this to slavery tells me "point of view" is a rather irrelevant one. And I don't trust the public to act reasonably, the public are full of knee-jerk, paranoid people who are the target demographic for news outlets like CNN, for this very purpose. So the fact that the public has a "big reaction", I immediately assume it's something trivial blown out of proportion, and after hearing the audio here, it was confirmed a typical overreaction by the public, on par with the media's exaggerated coverage of a very small issue. Maybe one day when some people stop jumping when the media says "frog", they might use a little introspective reasoning into their own reactions, but as evidenced by drone "hurhur u r dumb troll poster" guy above, I'm confident it's not any time soon.

So what are you saying? Should the NBA not have banned him or fined him? Are you serious or are you joking? The public goes to the NBA games and the public buys their products. This is a business and the NBA operates like a company. The public reaction is important to the NBA because some of them are their customers. It doesn't matter if you care about the public opinion or not, but the NBA cares and so do their partners, sponsorships and their players.

[DefCon1]

All I got from that post was, "your lack of overreaction like mine just makes me really angry and causes me to make terrible attempts at psychoanalyzing others to make them as mad as I am", with no success whatsoever.

If you intended on there being anything else to your post, perhaps post with less fluff and expand on relevant thoughts to the issue instead of making me the issue. I see much deflecting from your post here, but the interesting thing is, none of it is relevant to the topic at hand.

I agree with GlassJaw. Now, I don't know where you live or where you grew up but it seems from your point of view, racism is a normal thing from where you grew up or how you were raised. I would guess based on your username that you are probably Russian, Ukrainian or you were probably born or raised in some other Eastern European country. Now I know for a fact, racism is more tolerated or sometimes isn't seen as a big deal in those countries compared to North America. Am not saying all the people who live there are racist but it just seems racism is tolerated there.

Now I could be totally off on my guess and you maybe a Canadian who were born and raised here.

[DefCon1]

If your position is that I'm simply being contrarian, you're doing a terrible job representing the majority opinion.

Taking single or two words, then running amok with them is called straw man.

It's clear as day he has outdated beliefs (fancy words for "racism"), I'd venture an educated guess that a decent percentage of the populace have racist beliefs too. What really matters to me is how big an impact on the situation his beliefs had.

Given the reaction against him pertains to the Clippers, then when regarding what real impact it had on the Clippers how he acted in his private life in this situation, the obvious answer is.. not at all. Yet this was blown so out of proportion that they're trying to strip him of his business.

It's very clear this was a character assassination based on a dislike for this person.

While I respect the businesses who decided to disassociate themselves with it, because marketing his their prerogative, the public and media, especially the American public and media, acted embarrassingly.

Normally race issues are supposed to be dealt with to prevent them from happening again. Such visceral and over the top reactions don't promote learning anything. They're just as bad as what this guy did. All parties have been detrimental to bridging any race gap. I'd suggest considering this but you're too busy being outraged and overreacting too, so perhaps when you settle down.

"outdated beliefs"??haha my god...I guess Ahmadinejad, Hitler and Saddam Hossein also had outdated beliefs. Poor them.

Listen, this is the guy who has been SUED multiple times due to discrimination against others and it was a public matter not a private matter. How can you ignore all of that and most of the recording and say that it was because the conversation was private or it was because of his girlfriend or any other excuses to defend this guy. I bet you if we didn't have any rules or laws about discrimination, this guy would be the first in line to buy some black slaves. I am also sorry to tell you that not everyone is a racist and the ones that are racist usually keep it to themselves instead of showing the world their ignorance.

[DefCon1]

How would you feel if you don't evrn have the luxury of speaking your mind in your own home? Can you honestly say you've never said anything nasty? He merely stated that he doesn't like a certain group of people. He did not actually say anything nasty about them. How would you feel if you had to pay $2.5 million for saying something in your own home? This is preposterous

The NBA commissioner said that they had a close eye on Mr. Sterling and his racist behaviour and his history of racism for a long time. This was the breaking point for them since the media showed the world how racist Mr. Sterling was. I bet many people didn't know who Mr. Sterling was, now the whole world knows who he is, even me (I don't really follow basketball). The NBA waited for a proper time to remove this guy as an owner. Mr. Silver said it best, it was a private conversation but it is public now and his opinions and views are public knowledge.

[Buddhas Hand]

According to the Australian attorney general george brandis everyone has the right to be a bigot and say bigoted things.

So according to this POS what sterling has done is exercise his right to freedom of speech.

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

The NBA commissioner said that they had a close eye on Mr. Sterling and his racist behaviour and his history of racism for a long time. This was the breaking point for them since the media showed the world how racist Mr. Sterling was. I bet many people didn't know who Mr. Sterling was, now the whole world knows who he is, even me (I don't really follow basketball). The NBA waited for a proper time to remove this guy as an owner. Mr. Silver said it best, it was a private conversation but it is public now and his opinions and views are public knowledge.

On the othef hand, I follow the NBA and I've known that Sterling's been widely considered the worst owner in sports. And a lot of heat should go to the NBA and David Stern for giving Sterling so much breathing room. Perhaps the worst decision for Stern was to push the LA Clipper into the media spotlight. Not only did he condone through inaction, he turned the most obscure franchise straight to the forefront. Both Sterling and NBA are getting what they deserve, and once again the people have been burned.

[Mr. Ambien]

So what are you saying? Should the NBA not have banned him or fined him? Are you serious or are you joking? The public goes to the NBA games and the public buys their products. This is a business and the NBA operates like a company. The public reaction is important to the NBA because some of them are their customers. It doesn't matter if you care about the public opinion or not, but the NBA cares and so do their partners, sponsorships and their players.

Glad to see you're not paying attention to what someone posts and, like that other poster, are simply reacting. Here is the very first post I made, which you responded to by the way...

Wow. Just heard the audio recording, way too much overreaction. There are stupid people like this rampant in society, especially people around Sterling's age. It's not that it should be acceptable, but this was way overblown by people far too eager to simply rid of a disliked owner. A simple fine or short suspension would have been justifiable, not this insanity. If anything, he was far more pissed off about his gf acting like a slut on instagram than caring about race, look at all the pictures of her hanging all over celebrities at basketball games. He's old, clearly lives in a time where most people don't think like him, doesn't really understand the internet, and said obviously stupid things.. his (ex) gf just might be breaking California law and make him an even richer man out of this.

Times like this are excellent to educate people, not to go flip-out crazy. There's no learning anything positive from the way people reacted.

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"outdated beliefs"??haha my god...I guess Ahmadinejad, Hitler and Saddam Hossein also had outdated beliefs. Poor them.

Listen, this is the guy who has been SUED multiple times due to discrimination against others and it was a public matter not a private matter. How can you ignore all of that and most of the recording and say that it was because the conversation was private or it was because of his girlfriend or any other excuses to defend this guy. I bet you if we didn't have any rules or laws about discrimination, this guy would be the first in line to buy some black slaves. I am also sorry to tell you that not everyone is a racist and the ones that are racist usually keep it to themselves instead of showing the world their ignorance.

LOL

I did not ignore the rest of what he did.. once again, in a prior post I said he did much worse before, and that this was nothing in comparison to those, and where was this kind of outrage then?

The fact that you're invoking Godwin's law and even mentioning these names in a topic about a guy who made a rather harmless old man rants tells me about how ridiculous the hysteria is surrounding what this guy said. People can't even have a rational debate about race, it's "dat's racist, suspension for life!", "KKK, Hitler, slavery, etc.".. holy crap, people.

I find it funny that you think people hide their racism, I doubt you've ever stepped foot outside wherever you live, which must not be very culturally diverse. You know what I've regularly seen?

Racism from Chinese and Vietnamese people in San Francisco (California), Scarborough (Ontario), Mississauga (Ontario), and plenty of other cities. Open racism. In China, Laos, and Vietnam too. And they don't care. They're very open about it, and don't give a damn what you think, either.

Racism from Indians in Sunnyvale (California) and Brampton/Markham (Ontario) telling their kids not to date white people, in front of OTHER white people who, rather than calling them out on their racism, simply made excuses for them.

Racism from Mexicans throughout California.. against whites when issues like Prop 187 came up, and more than against whites they were especially racist against Blacks, equating them to lazy drug addicts. Again, no one called them out on it, they were given a pass. No hysteria, nothing.

I certainly didn't care, because that's how a rather large chunk of population are. This is how the real world is.

So flipping out on one guy with rather tame race-based archaic views I find to be massively hypocritical, but given the hysteria, not inconsistent with the irrationality I see on race issues in North America, particularly the US. At least in Canada, we more often than not (I suppose speaking more for Alberta than BC, eh?) can discuss things civilly, and reactions aren't so visceral like they are in the states.

The issue of racism in North America is much better than it used to be, but with the hysteria surrounding it, you'd never know, and I certainly don't expect it to get any better.. there's no learning from the way people like you are reacting. And when people are treated with special rules and given a pass, while others are vilified, that doesn't bridge any race gaps, that, instead, stokes racial tensions.

[asian player]

Glad to see you're not paying attention to what someone posts and, like that other poster, are simply reacting. Here is the very first post I made, which you responded to by the way...

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LOL

I did not ignore the rest of what he did.. once again, in a prior post I said he did much worse before, and that this was nothing in comparison to those, and where was this kind of outrage then?

The fact that you're invoking Godwin's law and even mentioning these names in a topic about a guy who made a rather harmless old man rants tells me about how ridiculous the hysteria is surrounding what this guy said. People can't even have a rational debate about race, it's "dat's racist, suspension for life!", "KKK, Hitler, slavery, etc.".. holy crap, people.

I find it funny that you think people hide their racism, I doubt you've ever stepped foot outside wherever you live, which must not be very culturally diverse. You know what I've regularly seen?

Racism from Chinese and Vietnamese people in San Francisco (California), Scarborough (Ontario), Mississauga (Ontario), and plenty of other cities. Open racism. In China, Laos, and Vietnam too. And they don't care. They're very open about it, and don't give a damn what you think, either.

Racism from Indians in Sunnyvale (California) and Brampton/Markham (Ontario) telling their kids not to date white people, in front of OTHER white people who, rather than calling them out on their racism, simply made excuses for them.

Racism from Mexicans throughout California.. against whites when issues like Prop 187 came up, and more than against whites they were especially racist against Blacks, equating them to lazy drug addicts. Again, no one called them out on it, they were given a pass. No hysteria, nothing.

I certainly didn't care, because that's how a rather large chunk of population are. This is how the real world is.

So flipping out on one guy with rather tame race-based archaic views I find to be massively hypocritical, but given the hysteria, not inconsistent with the irrationality I see on race issues in North America, particularly the US. At least in Canada, we more often than not (I suppose speaking more for Alberta than BC, eh?) can discuss things civilly, and reactions aren't so visceral like they are in the states.

The issue of racism in North America is much better than it used to be, but with the hysteria surrounding it, you'd never know, and I certainly don't expect it to get any better.. there's no learning from the way people like you are reacting. And when people are treated with special rules and given a pass, while others are vilified, that doesn't bridge any race gaps, that, instead, stokes racial tensions.

Exactly, why is everybody so shocked about this? People overreact about everything

[AllEyezOnMe]

Glad to see you're not paying attention to what someone posts and, like that other poster, are simply reacting. Here is the very first post I made, which you responded to by the way...

---------------------------------------------

LOL

I did not ignore the rest of what he did.. once again, in a prior post I said he did much worse before, and that this was nothing in comparison to those, and where was this kind of outrage then?

The fact that you're invoking Godwin's law and even mentioning these names in a topic about a guy who made a rather harmless old man rants tells me about how ridiculous the hysteria is surrounding what this guy said. People can't even have a rational debate about race, it's "dat's racist, suspension for life!", "KKK, Hitler, slavery, etc.".. holy crap, people.

I find it funny that you think people hide their racism, I doubt you've ever stepped foot outside wherever you live, which must not be very culturally diverse. You know what I've regularly seen?

Racism from Chinese and Vietnamese people in San Francisco (California), Scarborough (Ontario), Mississauga (Ontario), and plenty of other cities. Open racism. In China, Laos, and Vietnam too. And they don't care. They're very open about it, and don't give a damn what you think, either.

Racism from Indians in Sunnyvale (California) and Brampton/Markham (Ontario) telling their kids not to date white people, in front of OTHER white people who, rather than calling them out on their racism, simply made excuses for them.

Racism from Mexicans throughout California.. against whites when issues like Prop 187 came up, and more than against whites they were especially racist against Blacks, equating them to lazy drug addicts. Again, no one called them out on it, they were given a pass. No hysteria, nothing.

I certainly didn't care, because that's how a rather large chunk of population are. This is how the real world is.

So flipping out on one guy with rather tame race-based archaic views I find to be massively hypocritical, but given the hysteria, not inconsistent with the irrationality I see on race issues in North America, particularly the US. At least in Canada, we more often than not (I suppose speaking more for Alberta than BC, eh?) can discuss things civilly, and reactions aren't so visceral like they are in the states.

The issue of racism in North America is much better than it used to be, but with the hysteria surrounding it, you'd never know, and I certainly don't expect it to get any better.. there's no learning from the way people like you are reacting. And when people are treated with special rules and given a pass, while others are vilified, that doesn't bridge any race gaps, that, instead, stokes racial tensions.

I still don't think you get it, the guy was a OWNER of a national basketball team not another hillbilly from Texas. I have a feeling you are trying to some way defend this guy and wanting it to be acceptable for what he did because it happens all the time. Sure all people are racist to a degree etc but holding a high priority position like that and calling out respected people like magic Johnson is dumb whether he didn't know he was being recorded or not. Considering the history between white people and black people with all the slavery and racism the punishment was well deserved. If it were to happen again their should be an even larger punishment, this is 2014 we are well beyond most of the crap that we still see today which is why it's a big deal and should be treated as such.

[Brad Marchand]

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is reportedly battling cancer.

ESPN.com confirmed a report broken by the New York Post late Thursday night that the 80-year-old has had prostate cancer for some time.

The news comes just two days after Sterling was banned for life from the NBA and fined $2.5 million for racist comments he made in a taped conversation with his girlfriend.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is in the process of rallying the league's 29 other team owners to force a sale of the Clippers, the next step in removing Sterling entirely from the League.

"If that is true, my thoughts and prayers are with him," Clippers power forward Blake Griffin told ESPN.com after the team's Game 6 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Thursday. "Nobody deserves to go through something like that."

Hope he pulls through. Deserves criticism for his actions but no one deserves cancer.

http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=451027

[asian player]

I still don't think you get it, the guy was a OWNER of a national basketball team not another hillbilly from Texas. I have a feeling you are trying to some way defend this guy and wanting it to be acceptable for what he did because it happens all the time. Sure all people are racist to a degree etc but holding a high priority position like that and calling out respected people like magic Johnson is dumb whether he didn't know he was being recorded or not. Considering the history between white people and black people with all the slavery and racism the punishment was well deserved. If it were to happen again their should be an even larger punishment, this is 2014 we are well beyond most of the crap that we still see today which is why it's a big deal and should be treated as such.

NOBODY should be charged for something said in their own home. Nobody is perfect and nobody always says perfect things in their own home

[awalk]

NOBODY should be charged for something said in their own home. Nobody is perfect and nobody always says perfect things in their own home

Nope! If someone says in their own home that they plan on bombing a public space, they should be arrested for it! If a public figure in one of the top public sports league denounces and alienates the sheer volume of people that he did through outdated racist comments, the league and players and fans have every right to react how they did.

[etsen3]

NOBODY should be charged for something said in their own home. Nobody is perfect and nobody always says perfect things in their own home

He's not being charged with anything. The government and First Amendment are not involved. The NBA is punishing him because they have their own code that members must abide by. His comments damage their brand and cause them to lose money. As much as he has a legal right to say what he wants in his home, the NBA has a right to punish him for socially unacceptable, embarassing, and insulting comments.

I'm all for free speech, however it goes both ways. Having the legal right to do something doesn't mean others can't denounce it. In the real world, things you say have social repercussions, even if you have the legal right to say them.

You also make it sounds like he's just a normal person who happened to make an offhand racist comment one time. As has been repeated over and over ITT, Donald Sterling has a previous history of bullying and racism, including discriminating against black and latino renters. IMO they should have cracked down on him back then.

[Bertorama]

I don't have a major contreversial statement on all the craziness surrrounding the topics at the heat of debate. What I do not buy into however is the ease of which the topic gets ramped up and how easy it is to jump on board to rev up the community with media driven allegations. TMZ broke this story. A brand that only cares about creating conflict and making money based off the shock response. Again I'm not supporting anyone.! What I'm saying is ........what's your right to not be perfect and what's your right to not always be on point. ...............What's your right to not have your personal conversations recorded and shared with to the world?. I'll tell you this. Humans are not perfect. We are stupid and we say dumb things. We will all burn in hell for some ridiculously stupid thoughts we've had and some moronic comment we've made. Again I don't support fascism racism or blatant ignorance. What I do want to ask you everyone is. ...... Doesn't this feel political ? Doesn't this feel staged.? Don't be too easily manipulated by thoughts that don't really reflect reality. Now all I want is your thoughts ?

[Offensive Threat]

We talking Donald Sterling here? A bizarre person to be owning a team full of minority players and pulling a lot of revenue from minority communities.The problem Im having is that the NBA knew he was a racist. He had been charged with discrimination in 06 and 09 but since it didnt break big in the news it went unpunished. This time it was published with an audio tape so the NBA acted. The NBA doesnt care about racism as much as they care about their image in regards to racism. Theres a huge difference there. I am 100% certain that if the NBA brass had gotten a hold of that tape before the media and they could have they would have made it disappear and no punishment would have been handed out. Image is everything and to be protected at all costs. From a PR standpoint the new commishs reaction knocked it out of the park. Was it fair? That really has nothing to do with it.

The audio was a private conversation and she knew all the right buttons to push to make herself look good and him look so very bad in that conversation. Im not saying hes innocent of anything. Dudes an old school racist that I thought didnt really exist anymore. But should he have been punished so much for it? Forced to sell the team? Thats a bit much when you consider he didnt even break the law. He needs counseling more than anything in my mind. But the other side is that the team has been harmed so much by this that kicking him out is the only real way to go forward for them. Nobody would want to sponsor the team or go see them or play for them if he stayed on as owner. So in that respect the only choice is to force the sale. Its pretty well a given the govs will vote to force him out and maybe this is the last time we see this type of thing from an owner ever again. I hope so. I hope there arent that many like him left out there.

[GLASSJAW]

We talking Donald Sterling here? A bizarre person to be owning a team full of minority players and pulling a lot of revenue from minority communities.The problem Im having is that the NBA knew he was a racist. He had been charged with discrimination in 06 and 09 but since it didnt break big in the news it went unpunished. This time it was published with an audio tape so the NBA acted. The NBA doesnt care about racism as much as they care about their image in regards to racism. Theres a huge difference there. I am 100% certain that if the NBA brass had gotten a hold of that tape before the media and they could have they would have made it disappear and no punishment would have been handed out. Image is everything and to be protected at all costs. From a PR standpoint the new commishs reaction knocked it out of the park. Was it fair? That really has nothing to do with it.

The audio was a private conversation and she knew all the right buttons to push to make herself look good and him look so very bad in that conversation. Im not saying hes innocent of anything. Dudes an old school racist that I thought didnt really exist anymore. But should he have been punished so much for it? Forced to sell the team? Thats a bit much when you consider he didnt even break the law. He needs counseling more than anything in my mind. But the other side is that the team has been harmed so much by this that kicking him out is the only real way to go forward for them. Nobody would want to sponsor the team or go see them or play for them if he stayed on as owner. So in that respect the only choice is to force the sale. Its pretty well a given the govs will vote to force him out and maybe this is the last time we see this type of thing from an owner ever again. I hope so. I hope there arent that many like him left out there.

even if old school racists didn't exist, or don't exist in the numbers they once used to, it doesn't matter, because we now live in a culture (the same 'culture' that Sterling repeatedly refers to in the audio) that is built on racism. even if it isn't clear-cut racism, it is absolutely systemic. we live in the world those old school racists created!

of course removing Sterling won't change that, but i don't really get how you can say its "a bit much" -- the dude has a long history of doing bad things. here is an interesting article about it:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/commish-adam-silver-s-bold-ban-of-clippers-owner-donald-sterling-was-long-overdue-from-nba-201427444-nba.html

the NBA has a new commissioner and i don't care if its "political," he made the right decision. i don't even care if you want to be a cynic about it and say it was just business to appease the self-righteous groups who called for Sterling's head without recognizing the 'real issues,' because it was good business in the long run, especially if those decisions are made with consistency.

anyway, i don't even get what the OP is suggesting. decades of racism are not comparable to "saying the wrong thing sometimes" or "oops, sometimes i say something bad" -- the woman who recorded the audio is OBVIOUSLY goading him on, and its OBVIOUSLY staged, but who the hell cares? that's a non-issue in comparison. she'll be sued, no doubt. Sterling will get half his money back that he lost to the NBA, and that'll be that. violation of privacy or not, the issue here is crazy ass Sterling and "the culture" he perpetuates. all apologists can go down with him, as far as i'm concerned