In Donald Sterling’s world, money solves everything.
“I wish I had just paid her off,” the Los Angeles Clippers owner told Du Jour magazine Friday in his first comments since being booted from the NBA for a racist audio recording.
Rather than apologize for his hateful comments, the bloated bigot said he simply regretted not burying the woman who recorded him — V. Stiviano — in hush money.
“Sterling expressed remorse for the way his situation’s unfurled,” the magazine reported.
Despite being bombarded with interview requests, the real estate baron said there was only one journalist who could handle the assignment — Barbara Walters.
There was no indication Friday if that was in the works.
Seething NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banished the billionaire from the league Tuesday and said he would seek to force his sale of the Clippers.
He will also be fined $2.5 million by the league for his misbehavior.
Sterling — who has been holed up in his Los Angeles office fielding calls and reaching out to a dwindling list of pals — has not said if he intends to fight his expulsion or the forced sale of the valuable franchise.
Sterling was recorded telling Stiviano that he wanted her to stop bringing black friends to games and to stop posting pictures of them on her now infamous Instagram account.
“It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people,” Sterling said on the tape. “Do you have to?”
The boorish businessman was avalanched with condemnation after the recordings came to light and Silver moved swiftly to erase him from the league.
Meanwhile, Stiviano’s attorneys continue to insist that she didn’t leak the tapes and that they were tirelessly seeking out the true suspect.
“She did not leak the recordings,” attorney Mac Nehoray said. “We are narrowing down who might have leaked the tapes, but we do not want to divulge at this point.”
Nehoray insisted that Sterling’s relationship with the gangly weirdo was strictly intellectual and did not involve sexual favors.
Stiviano’s relationship with Sterling netted her several luxury cars and an apartment, according to reports.
Sterling’s wife, Rochelle Sterling, is suing her for trapping her hubby with “feminine wiles,” according to court papers.
Stiviano — who has taken to wearing a Darth Vader-like mask since the scandal erupted — admitted that she’s writing a book but said that it has nothing to do with the Sterling mess.
The Post exclusively reported Thursday that Sterling is suffering from prostate cancer and has been taking medications for several years to fight the disease.
The NBA owners’ advisory/finance committee met Thursday to discuss how to dump Sterling and will convene next week to speed up the process.