Donald Sterling Banned From NBA Games For Life

What are the conditions of the leaked phone call? Did he or his girlfriend record and share it? If it was obtained through any other method, it's a bit ridiculous. No link in OP, halp.

You're confusing defending someone (have to know the person first, I don't know anything about basketball) with invasion of privacy.

That's why Kareem Abdul Jabar's piece that was published yesterday was so awesome.

"This was the straw that broke the camels back?, everyone knew he was racist for years, but an illegal phone recording was the thing that made you all object?"

Also:



That's Sterling's daughter in the middle (fake Brazzer's logo).

Indeed. Many times people who tout "Freedom of Speech" whenever someone suffers a job loss due to their words tend to forget about "Freedom of Association."


She claims she recorded him with his permission, essentially because he's an old coot who tends to forget what he says. He claims he didn't know he was being recorded.

If he is correct then she has committed a crime since CA is a "two-party consent" state.

You can say what you like and you are are still accountable for what you say especially as a representive of a group like the NBA. You have the right to be a ignorant ahole and the rest of world can hold that against you.

This ahole got the clippers for 15 Million will sell for over a billion crying all the way to the bank.....

It was a private phone call though. Like I said (and will have to repeat) I don't know anything about basketball.
Duck Dynasty was an article made public. Huge difference.

So free speech now includes private conversations with a girlfriend (now an ex). Wow.

Once it went public it doesn't matter in the least.......

Doesn't matter if it was private. It got out and there's no stuffing that racist genie back in its bottle.

Yeah, when I heard his comments, I wasn't surprised, and neither was anyone that knew anything about Sterling.

As for the rhetoric about how his recordings were obtained, he himself arranges for his conversations to be recorded, all of them. He is old and forgetful. And he admitted that it was him on the tape, so, no sympathy whatsoever.

Very happy on the decision. Guy was an ignorant racist moron, what he said wasn't right. He saw his players as slaves trying to win him an NBA championship like it's the slave era. This is a bigger issue then basketball itself. Silver laying down the law like a boss! NBA playoffs tonight leggggooo /excited. Best playoffs so far in NBA history. Has had the most OT's in the first 10 days.

This is the same guy who refers to Basketball courts as "Cotton Fields" isn't it? It's hard to have sympathy for that, no matter how hard I was laughing when I first heard about it.

Is a leaked phone call legal?

Unfortunately that's the truth.

When he arranges for it to be recorded by the person he is talking to, I would think its legal.

I hate basketball, so this is the first I've heard anything about this. Had I know his history, I too would agree that this shouldn't even be an issue because he should have been shitcanned years ago for bigger problems.

But the bottom line is that people are frequently held accountable for things they said in private. Especially if they're rich, famous or both. Pretty sure that's like, rule #1 when you join the rich white guy club.

Look at Mel Gibson's rants, ffs.

These are all the details left out of the story, lol.

Burn his money then!

If it was obtained illegally then the ex-girlfriend will get to face those consequences in court but it doesn't absolve Sterling from the fall-out of a private organization such as the NBA.

It's unfortunate that someone has to pay for being a scumbag? Really?

Really?

Screw that noise.

I guess you can't get the fact that once the information is leaked rather legal or not the reputation of the league becomes an issue. The issue isn't the fact of legal or not solely the cat is out of the bag and he is seen for who he is period. Not worthy to wear the brand.

If he was talking like he was a pedo and taking care of your kids would you just look the other way cause it was illegal wire tap???

The invasion of privacy is a separate issue.

Put it this way: I call up someone and talk very seriously about planning to blow up city hall on a certain date. I happen to be famous enough that some paparazzo sets up to record my call. He then leaks that information. While he is guilty of invasion of privacy and whatever the legal term for wire-tapping or unlawful recording may be, I'm also still guilty of planning an act of terrorism.

Obviously I'm using an extreme example as it is mostly legal to have racist opinions, but the NBA isn't breaking any laws by telling him to stay the *** out of their stadiums, either, so it's a wash on that count.

You guys seriously don't see the hypocrisy of Sterling's "Private" comments? Does not matter if its in his head or in the privacy of his own home, the guy literally has views that are so primitive, that despite that not being a crime, it presents a workplace in where a large portion of the employees (and the rest of the league as well) are extremely uncomfortable working and dealing with this man.

They make him millions of dollars, and here he is referring to black people in Israel like "dogs" - He says he "buys them cars and homes" - this guy's views are SO PLANTATION/GOOD OL' BOY/PRIMITIVE RACIST, that even though holding those views are not a crime, its absolutely inappropriate to be in that position (Owner of an NBA team in LA, where the majority of employees and players are black) and have those views.

This man sent the message: its ok to be racist, tolerate blacks and minorities, and profit off of them, as long as in public you are politically correct, but in private, you can view them as "the enemy". The message that sends to th NBA is bone-chilling, and it tarnishes their image collectively.

This was a business decision.

Who watches the NBA ?

Someone has a lot of bottled up anger, lol.

I was referring to your comment about the genie in the bottle, hence the quote. Anything else is in your head, which is now public.

Unfortunately this is the case as well. If I get mad and say that to someone, or say I'm gonna bomb you sarcastically, it does not matter. No proof, just conviction based off a phone call, in your example (to clarify).

In my example, I really was planning a crime. That was the point: I was doing something that made me culpable.

The paranoid fears about the NSA busting down doors if you happen to say "Osama bin Laden" over the telephone was NOT what I was referring to.

While I'm happy Adam Silver & the NBA decided to ban Sterling & are trying to force him to sell the team, the sad part is he's probably happy about the punishment because it's almost a total win for him. If he's forced to sell the team, he will make a bunch of money (he paid $12.5 mil for the team and it's worth $550+ mil according to Forbes) and with the banning he no longer has to be around black people. The only thing he's probably upset about is the $2.5 mil fine, even though it isn't much for a billionare.

To me, he seems like a greedy person who's also pretty racist (he used to be an ambulance chaser & he used to refuse to pay big salaries to Clipper players in order to keep profits up) & I'm happy he'll be gone.

So to sum this up, this guy, Sterling, has had a history of racism. This phone call was just a nail in the coffin for the public. Makes sense now that people put down the pitchforks and torches and explained the situation.

Sucks he won't lose any sleep over it though, or money. Can't he be sued though?

Forgive me KoB, but you're SERIOUSLY deluded here. "NO longer has to deal with black people?" You're totally lost here. This man is a primitive racist, like that of Paula Dean, etc. His views are "I have absolutely no issue with blacks, as long as they make me money". He wants nothing to do with them in public. In fact, he'll shake Magic Johnson's hand, get all kinds of Lifetime achievement awards and whatnot in the public eye around blacks, but wants absolutely nothing to do with them.

People Like Dean and Donald do not have a problem employing blacks or being around them, as long as it makes them money. In fact, they have no problem with blacks serving them and exploiting them, because money is green.

Stop living in the primitive racist mindset where people think that a racist = "eww blacks". Thats not the current mindset towards racism. Now, its all about exploiting and profitting off of others while holding your own culutural hatred within yourself.

Its not a win for him either way. He's not going to get the huge amount of money you wuold think. So many endorsements have been dropped, and the team's image has been tarnished. He's not walking away unscathed from this, and judging from his ban, that's probably going to trickle into other areas of his life.

However, his family will be golden and set for life.