Everyone from President Obama to Donald Sterling’s estranged wife condemned the Los Angeles Clippers owner’s apparent racist rant Sunday — while his own players staged a silent protest before their NBA playoff game.
The mounting outcry came as the innocuous photo, obtained by TMZSports.com, that sparked Sterling’s incendiary statements surfaced. It shows Sterling’s ex-mistress, V. Stiviano, and a friend posing arm-in-arm with legendary hoops star Magic Johnson.
Sterling blew his top when he learned that Stiviano posted the pic online. In a secretly recorded conversation, he scolded her for “associating with black people” and told her not to bring any African-Americans to Clippers games.
President Obama, speaking at a news conference in Malaysia, called Sterling’s remarks “incredibly offensive.”
“When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don’t really have to do anything, you just let them talk,” Obama added.
The NAACP said the controversy would cost Sterling an award he was scheduled to receive from the organization next month.
Sterling — who hasn’t denied making the comment — did not attend the Clippers’ 118-97 playoff loss against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday.
His players made their anger clear by taking off their team jackets and tossing them onto the floor at center court before the road game. They wore their red warmup shirts turned inside-out, hiding the “Clippers” logo during the pregame shoot-around.
Several fans waved protest signs in the stands.
Sterling’s wife, Rochelle, told ESPN, “I don’t condone those statements, and I don’t believe them . . . The team is the most important thing to my family.”
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Rev. Al Sharpton threatened that “we’re going after advertisers” if Sterling isn’t suspended by the league.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is expected to announce results of an internal probe before the playoff series returns to LA on Tuesday.
Sterling had been slated to receive his second “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the NAACP’s Los Angeles chapter at its 100th anniversary dinner, but NAACP President Lorraine Miller said that would no longer happen.
Sterling got his first lifetime award in 2009, shortly after Hall of Famer and ex-Clipper exec Elgin Baylor filed a discrimination suit that accused Sterling of a “Southern plantation-type” mentality.
Additional reporting by David K. Li