About Donald Sterling

 

 

Donald Sterling (born April 26, 1934) is an American business magnate and former attorney. He is the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers professional basketball franchise of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Sterling acquired the Clippers in 1981 for $12.5 million, and as of 2014, the team is valued at $575 million by Forbes magazine, ranking them 18th out of 30 teams. At 33 seasons of ownership (1981 to present), Sterling has been the longest-tenured owner in the NBA since the death of Los Angeles Lakers majority owner Jerry Buss in 2013. On April 29, 2014, Sterling was banned from the NBA for life and fined $2.5 million by the NBA after recordings of him making racist comments were made public.

L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling told his GF he does NOT want her bringing black people to his games ... including Magic Johnson ... and it's ALL on tape.

TMZ Sports has obtained audio of Sterling making the racist declaration during a heated argument on April 9th with V. Stiviano ... after she posted a photo on Instagram posing with Magic.

Sterling rails on Stiviano -- who ironically is black and Mexican -- for putting herself out in public with a black person (she has since taken the pic down).  But it doesn't end there.  You have to listen to the audio to fully grasp the magnitude of Sterling's racist worldview. Among the comments:

-- "It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?" (3:30)

-- "You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want.  The little I ask you is not to promote it on that ... and not to bring them to my games." (5:15)

-- "I’m just saying, in your lousy f******* Instagrams, you don’t have to have yourself with, walking with black people." (7:45)

-- "...Don't put him [Magic] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me.  And don't bring him to my games." (9:13)

Sterling has a documented history of allegedly racist behavior -- he's been sued twice by the federal government for allegedly refusing to rent apartments to Blacks and Latinos.

He was also sued by former Clippers exec Elgin Baylor for racial discrimination -- though a jury was ultimately not convinced and shot down Baylor's case.

Sterling has been separated from his wife Shelly for years.  She remains a key player in running the team and sources tell us she's "mortified" by Sterling's comments.

We have made several calls to Sterling and his people ... so far, no word back.