The official student news site of Athens Drive High School

ATHENS ORACLE

The official student news site of Athens Drive High School

ATHENS ORACLE

The official student news site of Athens Drive High School

ATHENS ORACLE

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Clippers Owner Fined, Fired for racist remarks

Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, has been banned from any involvement with the National Basketball Association (NBA) due to his recorded racism against black people.

The controversy began when Sterling’s girlfriend, V. Stiviano, posted pictures of herself with former basketball player Magic Johnson and professional baseball player Matt Kemp to Instagram. Sterling was unhappy with Stiviano spending time with black people and tried to tell Stiviano to remove the pictures and discontinue spending time with people who are black.

The conversation between the two was first seen publicly, Sunday, April 27 by TMZ and Deadspin, neither of which will reveal where they got the tape.

Stiviano tried to talk with Sterling about the fact that almost his entire Clippers team was made up of black players which only made him more upset.

“I support them [black people] and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them?” said Sterling in the tape.

Sterling went on to ask Stiviano to take all the pictures of black people off her Instagram profile. Later in the tape, Sterling also made references to how he believes that black people should be treated like dogs since that is how he believes they are treated in Israel.

Surprisingly, Sterling did not believe his words to Stiviano to be racist.

“There’s no racism here. If you don’t want to be… walking… into a basketball game with a certain… person, is that racism?” said Sterling.

The Clippers team protested Sterling’s remarks by turning their warm-up tops inside out and throwing them on the court, hiding all Clippers logos, before warm-ups in the first round of the play-offs against the Golden State Warriors. During that game, the Clippers also wore black socks and other clothing accessories to protest Sterling’s remarks. Other NBA teams such as the Houston Rockets and the Miami Heat followed in the Clippers’ protests by turning their warm-up tops inside out and leaving them on the court.

NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, did the most damage to Sterling, giving him a lifetime ban from the NBA and a “maximum allowed”  $2.5 million fine. Sterling is no longer allowed to go to any NBA games or practices, step into any Clippers facilities or have any involvement with league activities.

“The punishment for Sterling is fair because he is representing the NBA and ruining their reputation as an owner,” said Alex Bates, freshman. “Racism has no place in being an owner of a basketball team in the NBA.”

Sterling’s wife was also outraged at her husband’s racist comments, telling media that she had no involvement with his racism and did not share his prejudice views.

As for Sterling, his relationship with his 30 year-old girlfriend is still coming to light. But that is after Sterling gave her millions of dollars in high-class gifts, such as a million-dollar home and multiple luxury cars.

 

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