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| LA racist dating much younger woman of African/Asian extraction |
LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling has come under fire for racist comments caught on tape by a woman alleging to be his girlfriend. Sterling made several comments berating her for inviting black people to Clippers games and for posting a photo of herself with NBA legend Magic Johnson, who is black.
Sterling has not backed down from his comments, even after the NBA announced that they were investigating the matter, and as some in the media, particularly in Oakland, are urging Clippers players to boycott the rest of the playoffs. Sterling was questioned by reporters today as he attempted to leave a West Hollywood restaurant, and was hostile and combative in his responses.
Sterling said, "You motherfuckers are getting to be a pain in my ass. I can run my team however I want, talk to my girlfriend however I want, and rent apartments to whoever I want to. Leave me the hell alone."
Sterling owns numerous apartment complexes in Southern California, and was investigated in 2008 for violations of housing laws. Several of his former property managers testified that Sterling ordered them to "clear out all the Mexicans" and that he complained continually about black and Hispanic tenants. He is also currently being sued by former Clippers General Manager and NBA Hall-of-Famer Elgin Baylor for alleged racial discrimination during Baylor's tenure with the team.
"Nobody told me that Blake Griffin was black," Sterling said. "I thought I had found a honky I could build around. That's why I called him 'The Vanilla Gorilla.' Now what am I going to do?"
Sterling also admitted, "The real reason I fired Vinny Del Negro last year was because I found out that, in Italian, his name means 'Vinny the Nigger.' All I want is for there to be one team in this damn league that looks like the Celtics used to."
Reaction around LA, where it is not creepy for an 80-something billionaire to have a hot, young girlfriend, has been mixed. Reaction everywhere else on the planet has been uniform in it's condemnation of Sterling.
"That's just gross," said Claire Macadoo, a waitress at Chili's in Batesville, MS. "I don't care if he's a go-zillionaire, I ain't sleeping with some nasty old man just so I can sit courtside for a stupid basketball game."
