President Obama, Magic Johnson, NBA players respond to Donald Sterling comments
Members of the National Basketball Association spoke out Sunday in response to racist comments made by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
The Clippers players staged a silent protest as they warmed up for an NBA playoff game, the players removed their warmup shirts bearing team logos. They also wore T-Shirts inside out with the logos hidden.
Michael Jordan, considered the league’s greatest player and now the majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, said: “As an owner, I’m obviously disgusted that a fellow team owner could hold such sickening and offensive views. … As a former player, I’m completely outraged. There is no room in the NBA — or anywhere else — for the kind of racism and hatred that Mr. Sterling allegedly expressed.”
“He shouldn’t own a team any more. And he should stand up and say, ‘I don’t want to own a team any more,’ ” [Magic] Johnson said.
At a news conference with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Sunday, [President] Obama was asked about the comments on the recording.
“When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don’t really have to do anything, you just let them talk. That’s what happened here,” the President said.
Obama also said Sterling’s alleged comments are an example of how “the United States continues to wrestle with the legacy of race and slavery and segregation.”
The comments were revealed during a recording of a conversation between Sterling and his girlfriend, who is black and Mexican.
The NBA Players Association demanded Sterling be banned from all playoff games this season. The players also want an account of past accusations of racism against Sterling.
Click here to listen to the taped conversation.
What should happen here?
Should Sterling step down from his post as owner of the L.A. Clippers?
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