Banned Clippers owner insists that he is not a racist and made a big mistake…
Banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling says that Magic Johnson isn’t a good role model for the children of Los Angeles.
Speaking in an interview with CNN, Sterling has asked for forgiveness following on from an audio recording being released of him making racial remarks earlier this month.
Sterling had told his girlfriend, V. Stiviano, to remove a photo of her and Magic Johnson from her Instagram account and made another comment regarding the former Los Angeles Lakers star which caused outrage in the NBA and beyond.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver later banned him for life from the league along with a $2.5m fine, and Sterling has been apologetic in his response and insists that he was baited into saying those things.
“If I said anything wrong, I’m sorry,” Sterling tells CNN in the interview. “He’s a good person. I mean, what am I going to say?”
However, Sterling added a dig at Johnson as well.
“Has he done everything he can do to help minorities? I don’t think so. But I’ll say it, he’s great, but I don’t think he’s a good example for the children of Los Angeles,” he tells CNN.
Sterling also claims in the interview that he was set up by Stiviano to make the comments.
“Well, yes, I was baited,” Sterling tells CNN. “I mean, that’s not the way I talk. I don’t talk about people for one thing, ever. I talk about ideas and other things. I don’t talk about people.”
Silver has urged the other 29 owners in the league to force Sterling to sell the team, although his wife, Shelley, has insisted that she wants to keep the franchise in the family and believes that she shouldn’t be held accountable for her husband’s actions.
The pair plan to divorce eventually having been held up by financial restrictions on Sterling’s wife side, but it remains to be seen whether or not she will be given the opportunity to carry on by the league owners, players and sponsors.
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