I expect most guys would not be so casual about their “girlfriends” sleeping with other men.
1 & 2. Even if she’s totally setting him up, she didn’t put the words in his mouth. Is she helping him dig his own hole? Maybe. But he’s shoveling merrily.
- Sterling was going out in public with Stiviano on his arm while still married, and was buying her lavish gifts with marital funds. He’s the last guy to claim the moral high ground over an instagram picture.
This should be “re-exposed,” not “exposed.” Just a few years ago the federal government sued him successfully for racial discrimination and steering in his apartment buildings, and the deposition quoted him saying lots of racist things that explained his why he rented to whom. Then there was the Elgin Baylor lawsuit. The guy is a disgusting bigot. There are some important details we don’t know, but we already had plenty of evidence to conclude that he’s a total shitbag.
And I think the message he was sending was this: he’s telling her that people will talk about a woman who associates with minority guys. The implication is that if she’s willing to be seen with them, she obviously has no standards and would be willing to fuck them. So he’s asking her not to be seen with nonwhite guys so nobody thinks she’s less than virtuous because it reflects poorly on him. And again, she’s biracial and he’s married.
She could be setting him up, and the Sterlings say this might be revenge for a lawsuit they filed against her some time ago. But that’s not the only possible conclusion. At some points she sounds genuinely upset and confused since he’s not making a lot of sense and being emotionally manipulative also saying racist things about her.
You have totally misunderstood what was said. She is not fucking Magic Johnson. She’s fucking Donald Sterling, presumably, and Sterling said he would rather she fuck Magic or any other nonwhite guy than post a picture with him or bring him to a game. So no, this is not the kind of thing a sensible guy would say to his girlfriend.
If you stop and consider the last few hundred years of history, you’ll realize that lots of racists have enjoyed fucking black people. As far as the employment side goes- Sterling seems to regard paying black people as one of the regrettable things he has to do in order to make money from the Clippers. Of course until the last couple of years he had a reputation as one of the worst and cheapest owners in the league.
She is definitely leading him but it’s also clear that these are his own views and that they’ve discussed this issue before. She didn’t put any words in his mouth.
- Honesty
Sterling’s “punishment” may well be that he has to sell the team. He paid just $25 million for the team, and will get many times that amount for it.
We should all be punished so harshly!
There just aren’t any good guys in this story. Stiviano is a back-stabbing, hustling bimbo. Sterling is a stupid, racist, horny old man.
As far as anybody knows, the NBA can’t force an owner to sell a team. Sterling might end up selling the team, but he won’t be forced so much as shamed into it. And he would definitely make a lot of money on that deal, but he’s a billionaire anyway.
Living in LA, I’ve had the pleasure of hearing a whole weekend of talk and speculation on this subject. Its totally dominated all of the local sports stations, as it should. Sterling is a shithead and the sooner he’s forced out of the NBA, the better. That said, there are a few things I haven’t heard addressed in this whole debacle
First, I don’t care if his girlfriend had an agenda, or was “coached” as a local caller mentioned this morning, or that technically, California law says there must be 2 consenting parties to a recorded conversation. I’m glad this came out and I’m glad she’s trying to use this to hurt Sterling. He deserves that and more. With the conversation out, and she claims she didn’t release it, its too late to pretend this didn’t happen. Let whatever lawsuit run its course on the girlfriend and her illegal recording, but everyone knows that’s not the issue at hand
Second, I think Mark Willard of the local sports station asked, perhaps as a Devil’s Advocate, whether or not someone’s odious beliefs should prevent him from owning a team, and if this crosses the line into a thoughtcrime.
-That’s stupid, its not a crime, but owning a team is a privilege by the NBA that they can withdraw or prevent for any reason they want using any available powers they have. Only the government cannot make thoughts a crime and this doesn’t come anywhere near that.
-And sure, I think maybe other owners may have idiotic and offensive thoughts, but either we don’t know about them or they are smart enough to keep it to themselves. Sterling’s comments have been more open and severe and now more than ever on the public’s mind that something punitive has to be done. If other owners do this, then certainly they should be punished by the league, Sterling’s just the worst of the lot and for that, an example must be made of him.
-And yes, I fully get how this could come back the other way in a situation where if some great owner like Mark Cuban who’s popular with the fans expresses a non-corporate, bureaucratic response to something, the league could use Sterling’s precedent to shut him up too. I’m willing to endorse a method of punishment for Sterling if it may be abused, because Sterling is just that odious
Third, as for the punishment, if they can’t get Sterling out, then definitely the league should do something like strip the team of some future draft picks or, like one caller suggested, allow all the players to leave as free agents after the season. The argument that they shouldn’t punish players or fans is a moot one in my opinion. As people have mentioned, this isn’t a new thing for Sterling. People are surprised at the severity of these tapes but not that Sterling’s a racist. Anyone who’s been fans of this team for a while has heard about the lawsuits on the other racial things Sterling’s done. Nobody is really that innocent. Now, I do think fans and players only own a small part of the blame for enabling this guy, a small part. But to say that we should draw the line at indirectly punishing players or fans is stupid, it makes almost any punishment impossible. So I would ignore that line completely. If the team has to suffer a bit, or the fans have to suffer a bit in order to punish Sterling, then let them suffer a bit. Teams can come back, fans can come back, but Sterling might be alive for another 20 years. Its too long to go without punishing him for this
I also liked that the Clippers did some form of protesting by turning their warmup shirts inside out during last night’s game, and that not only them but some other teams adopted the black socks and armbands thing as a silent protest. While I don’t think they should just not play and forfeit, I do think a successful way to force the NBA’s hand in quickly punishing Sterling is for BOTH the Clippers and the Warriors to not play, and refuse to until Sterling’s gone. If the NBA does the unthinkable and allow the winner of the Thunder/Grizzlies team to move on to the conference finals, then I think that team should refuse to play as well. As a majority black league, I hope the players can stand together and disrupt the games, even though its been the best first round I’ve ever seen, in order to get this unrepentant racist out as soon as possible.
In that same vein, I think fans who have tickets to the Clippers/Warriors game on Tuesday should either not go, which would be the best thing to do, or wear all black like someone suggested, and if they do go, not cheer at all. A whole 2.5 hours of a silent arena will be devastating on TV and completely unprecedented. People need to send the message that this sort of thing won’t be tolerated and if the league will not or cannot move on Sterling because of its internal rules, then the fans need to do something.
That only works if you believe that people are logical and consistent beings. They’re not. Racism can come from surprising directions and be completely illogical and resistant to any form of reasoning.
Actually, the existence of racism itself is proof that people are illogical and inconsistent.
“Dating” a person of a different race doesn’t necessarily say anything about racism. I could be because you’re not a racist. It could be unrelated to racism or non-racism. It could even be because you’re a racist.
Read on Grantland that the constitutional bylaws don’t permit it. Maximum 1 million dollar fine plus any suspension doled out.
VERY.
Some of the most racist individuals that I have ever met were guys in the Air Force who were married to Filipinas, Koreans and Vietnamese women. One guy almost got beaten up by a Black airman for calling his own children “his little half-niggers” in a room with six other Black men in it, including myself.
No, it wasn’t me that was going to stomp him as the guy who wanted to was much larger than me and would have done a better job of it.:p. We just tried to restrain the guy from kicking his ass.
Eh? It seems pretty clear he initiated the conversation about her not being seen with black people. After that, she’s obviously upset, but I don’t see how that’s “setting him up”.
What reaction? Again, it seems pretty clear he initiated the conversation about not being seen with black people.
Did you listen to the recording? It doesn’t really make any sense without the racial component. He isn’t concerned with her being seen with other men out of jealousy, he’s concerned with her being seen with black people because his friends don’t like black people.
No she isn’t. And even if she was, no one really cares, since she isn’t a public figure that owns a major sports franchise.
Yeah, I see no reason to equate her with him. He’s clearly bringing the racist crazy and she’s just trying to make sense of it.
Yeah, this guy’s been a known bigot for a while. Didn’t stop the NAACP from giving him the first of two lifetime achievement awardsthough.
Awards are such a fucking sham.
It would be great if they gave him the award as scheduled, but renamed the award and reworded the presentation to just completely shit on the guy. In fact, I think the NAACP should have their own Razzie or IgNobel to give out each year. 
If you were 81 dating a 20 something model type who you KNEW was there for money and not your “prowess” you might think very differently.
Truth be told, how many people born in the 20s and 30s do NOT think like this. Yeah the dude has money and public face so lets run him out of town, but his generation is almost gone so these are not long lasting and/or impacting opinions… just an old man exposing the same hatred he was probably taught by his parents.
Sad but probably very true. 
You can’t compare this to real dating.
Maybe I’m wrong but it sounded like his mistress was saying some racist type of stuff too.
Maybe. It’s a bit more of a stretch.
While it still matters, it’s of lower concern as she’s not a billionaire nor is she the owner of a major sports franchise, both of which give one much more visibility and influence in society.