The controversy this week has centered on the racist comments Donald Sterling allegedly made to his girlfriend in a recorded phone conversation.
The Los Angeles Clippers team responded to the racist comments by staging a silent protest before Game 4 of their play-offs yesterday, wearing their red warm-up shrits inside out to conceal the Clippers logo.
Sterling was recently identified on a 9-minute recording posted by TMZ and an extended 15 minute tape obtained by Deadspin this week telling his girlfriend V. Stiviano not to bring black people including former hoops star Magic Johnson to his NBA games.
Magic Johnson responded with the comments by Twitter and appear on ABC’s play-off pre-game show calling for NBA commissioner Adam Silver to “[do] his due diligence” and “come down hard” on Sterling, who “should not own a team anymore.”
“As an owner, I’m obviously disgusted that a fellow team owner could hold such sickening and offensive views,” said fellow ex-NBA superstar and current Charlotte Bobcats owner in a statement. “I’m confident that Adam Silver will make a full investigation and take appropriate action quickly.”
President Obama also responded to the comments. “I have confidence that the NBA commissioner Adam Silver, a good man, will address this. Obviously the NBA’s a league that is beloved by fans all across the country and it’s got an awful lot of African-American players and is steeped in African-American culture. I suspect the NBA is going to be deeply concerned in resolving this…The United States continues to wrestles with a legacy of race, slavery and segregation. That’s still there, the vestiges of discrimination.”
TNT commentator and former NBA star Charles Barkley weighed in with CNN’s Don Lemon saying “In my opinion, he has to be suspended.” Lemon tracked the breaking story on Friday from the CNN newsdesk. “This guy is an idiot,” he said of Sterling. “I felt like I was listening to someone from the 1930s, ’40s or ’50s.”
“When you keep a vicious dog and you know that it’s vicious, you can’t be surprised when one day it bites someone,” said sports commentator and Real Sports host Bryant Gumbel on NBC’s Sunday Beltway show Meet the Press.
But, the reactions to what happened did not stop there. With the new age of communication people across the world are able to share their thoughts on what Donald Sterling said. Here are a few of the Internet’s and celebrities responses to Donald Sterling’s comments:
What do you think of Donald Sterling’s comments? Share with us your thoughts in the comments below!
