Binge Media Sports: The Donald Sterling Situation

ALLEGEDLY! ALLEGEDLY! ALLEGEDLY!

I just thought I’d go ahead and get that out of the way. It’s been a little over 24 hours since the Donald Sterling story broke, and it’s been spreading like wildfire ever since. If you’re not familiar with what’s been going on, allow me to paint the picture for you. The man in that picture you see above is Donald Sterling, owner of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers since 1981, and overall rich businessman who’s been married for over 50 years. The woman, only known as V. Stiviano, is obviously not Sterling’s wife, but an ex-girlfriend/mistress who is currently in a legal battle with the Sterling family, namely the wife, in a 1.8 million dollar lawsuit in which she is said to have “embezzled”, but really just won’t return gifts given to her by Donald Sterling during their affair. Unhappy with the lawsuit against her, she vowed to “get even” at some point, and I’d say she’s done just that.

In a story first reported by TMZ, Stiviano is believed to have leaked an audio conversation between her and Sterling that has rocked the NBA. So instead of the focus being put on the first round of the playoffs that have already produced some amazing moments, here we are. The story starts with Stiviano, who is half-black and half-Mexican, taking photos and posting them to her Instagram account, one of which was taken with legendary NBA star, Earvin “Magic” Johnson. This is where Donald Sterling goes…well, Donald Sterling.

“It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?” Stiviano then says that she’s always admired the former Lakers star. Sterling’s reply: “I think the fact that you admire [Magic]–I’ve known him well, and he should be admired. And I’m just saying that it’s too bad you can’t admire him privately. And during your ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE, your whole life, admire him–bring him here, feed him, fuck him, I don’t care. You can do anything. But don’t put him on an Instagram for the world to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games. Okay?”

WOW! Really? This guy owns an NBA team. I’m assuming he’s not blind and realizes that the majority of the players in the league and his own team are black, right? Obviously, this isn’t a new revelation and Hall of Fame player and always entertaining analyst Charles Barkley agrees with me, calling for Sterling to be immediately fined and suspended. “We can not have an NBA owner discriminating against a league that’s…we’re a black league.” Thanks Chuck. And he’s certainly not the only person with an opinion on the matter, and it’s not coming just from people like myself, but from some of the biggest names in the NBA.

Kobe Bryant: “I couldn’t play for him” (via Twitter)

LeBron James: “There is no room for Donald Sterling in our league”

Even Michael Jordan, who usually remains silent on big issues, chimed in. For those who don’t know, Jordan is the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, and the only black majority owner in the NBA. “I’m completely disgusted that a fellow team owner could hold such sickening and offensive views. I’m completely disgusted.”

And of course, Magic Johnson himself, who says that he will never again attend a Clippers game as long as Donald Sterling is the owner, and calls the entire situation “a black eye for the NBA”.  He said he felt sorry for his friends, All-Star guard Chris Paul and head coach Doc Rivers, that have to work for Sterling.

Oh, don’t forget about that. The Clippers are still playing basketball. Long regarded as “the other team in L.A.”, they’re in a battle with in-state rival Golden State in a very entertaining first round matchup. The aforementioned Chris Paul is trying to lead this team, but now also has issues as the president of the players association. He called this “a very serious issue that we will address aggressively. As players, we owe it to our teams and our fans to keep our focus on our game, the playoffs, and the drive to the Finals.” There was also talk of a boycott of today’s Game 4 matchup. The team met for 45 minutes in a very vocal meeting, according to head coach Doc Rivers. “Boycott was brought up because I’m sure 20,000 people have suggested it. But honestly, I’m completely against that and they (the players) were too.” And in a show of team unity, he made sure that people knew that “J.J. Redick (who is a white player) was just as pissed as Chris Paul, and that’s the way it should be.” The Clippers did lose today’s game by 21 points, but unfortunately, the story will not be about the series now being tied at 2 games apiece, but instead about Sterling. I will say, however, that I found their unity today to be pretty awesome. You can see why below.

What you don’t see in that clip is that once the game started, all of the players were wearing black socks, wristbands, and armbands, which I think is hysterical in the most awesome way. Rumors are circulating about something even bigger for Game 5 on their home floor, so we’ll all have to wait until Tuesday night in L.A. to see what that is.

If you’re thinking this is just a one-time incident, you’d be wrong. Sterling has a history of discrimination in his other businesses as well. Over the last nine years, he has settled multiple discrimination suits filed against him, including a 2009 situation where he paid 2.73 million dollars to the Justice Department to settle allegations that his companies targeted and discriminated against blacks and Hispanics in the L.A. area. ESPN has actually obtained depositions from one of the first discrimination suits that dealt with a property he owned. One of his top property supervisors, Summer Davenport, commented on statements made by Sterling about the odor of a property called the Ardmore, “That’s because of all the blacks in this building, they smell, they’re not clean. And it’s because of all the Mexicans that just sit around and smoke and drink all day. So we have to get them out of here.” Again…wow.

So where do things go from here? The NBA, and new commissioner Adam Silver (bet he’s wishing David Stern would have stuck around until the end of the season), have said that they will conduct a full investigation and there are a “wide range of sanctions” that could come into play at some point. And here’s the statement that came from the Clippers organization, who say they still aren’t sure whether the tape is “legitimate or has been altered”:

“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.”

Hmmm….so the front office doesn’t think the tape is real, but that sure as hell doesn’t sound like a denial, does it? What that sounds like to me is Donald Sterling telling people what to say. He’s not sorry that he’s a racist. He’s sorry that now the whole world knows he’s a racist. It’s 2014 for God’s sake. I can’t tell you how sick I get when I turn on CNN and so many of the stories we are subjected to are still those concerning race relations. You’d think we would be past this as a society by now, but unfortunately, that’s not the case and won’t be anytime soon. And I thought we were moving in the right direction. For a time there, the best rapper was white and the best golfer was black. That’s called progress. Okay, that was a joke so please save the nasty comments. But seriously, for every step taken forward in the fight for racial equality, it’s people like Donald Sterling and stories like these that take our country two steps backward. Allegedly.

So where do you come out on all of this? I’ve given you my little take on it, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Feel free to comment below or follow me and tweet @THElukenorris with your opinion and/or feedback. Next time you hear from me, we can get back to having some fun.