Sterling's Apology Goes Awry With Magic Johnson HIV Attack

NBA-banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling apologised profusely for the bigoted remarks that led to the league's efforts to force him to sell the team in an exclusive interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper that aired on Monday night. But Sterling poured fuel on the fire he started by attacking Los Angeles Lakers icon Magic Johnson on several levels.

Emotional to the point of crying at times during the interview, Sterling apologised to his fellow NBA owners, to his estranged wife, Shelly, and even to Johnson, if only grudgingly. In one breath, the 80-year-old billionaire real estate developer described V. Stiviano, 31, the girlfriend who recorded him expressing bigoted views, as a "special person," and in the next, he suggested she "baited" him into making racially charged remarks and called her a "street person."
"I'm not a racist," Sterling said at the outset of the interview. "I made a terrible mistake, and I'm here to apologise to all the people I've hurt ... I never dreamt this would happen. It's a terrible nightmare."

Sterling was taped by Stiviano expressing his concern that she posted pictures of herself and a girlfriend posing with Magic Johnson on social media. During the course of the tape, which was obtained by TMZ, he asked her not to bring African-Americans to his games.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver reacted by banning Sterling from the NBA for life and imposing the maximum $2.5 million ($2.67 million) fine. Silver also initiiated a process to gain approval of three-fourths of the other 29 owners to force Sterling to sell the team. The league installed former Citibank and Time Warner head Dick Parsons as interim CEO of the Clippers.
Parsons met with the media on Monday in Los Angeles and expressed confidence that Sterling ultimately will have to sell, saying, "My personal belief is the league will prevail, which means there will be an ownership change."

But Sterling questioned the resolve of his fellow owners to follow through in the CNN interview. "Because the media says they want me out doesn't mean they want me out," Sterling said. The exiled owner went on to insist the Clippers' players "love me" and contend he has received support from fans and sponsors. But he added, "The media hates me."
Sterling said it was jealousy of Stiviano's friendships that drove him to make "stupid, uneducated remarks."
Sterling then claimed Johnson called and spoke to him twice after the firestorm erupted, said he knew Stiviano and urged Sterling to wait before saying anything. "He lulled me into waiting a week," Sterling said. "I think he wanted me to do nothing so he could buy the team."
Several times during the interview with Cooper, Sterling criticised Johnson as a poor role model because he contracted HIV, and he suggested Johnson had not used his money to help the African-American community in Los Angeles.
"He acts so holy," Sterling said of Johnson. "He does nothing. It's all talk."
Cooper announced that Johnson has agreed to respond on air on Tuesday night.
MCT

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