Donald Sterling

[Manowar]

I am not lobbying for him but for free speech, I don't like what he said anymore than you do, but if you can ban someone for what he said in his own home that is scary

manowar

[Silver]

but if you can ban someone for what he said in his own home that is scary

manowar

You have to understand that if they had not gotten rid of him, it would have negatively affected the company.

Black people, especially, would have stopped going to the games.

[Cato]

I am not lobbying for him but for free speech, I don't like what he said anymore than you do, but if you can ban someone for what he said in his own home that is scary

manowar

His free speech rights weren't violated. If you are specifically addressing that he was potentially wronged, assuming California has a two party consent law for recordings, then I would tend to agree. Even if his opinions were wrongly divulged, we cannot ignore the content of what was said and the NBA and other business partners have the right to react.

[Minimalist]

I am not lobbying for him but for free speech, I don't like what he said anymore than you do, but if you can ban someone for what he said in his own home that is scary

manowar

Then you need to understand that Freedom of Speech merely means that the government can not throw him in jail for what he says. It does not mean that any one else may not react negatively to what he said. They have Freedom of Speech, too. It also does not mean that he can violate the terms of a business agreement at will and not be subject to non-criminal sanctions by the NBA.

[Whateverist]

The NBA wil just use him for their purposes, A few on this forum seem to be angry becasue Sterling is super rich, that is sad.

manowar

It is a business relationship which Sterling entered into with the NBA. He received tremendous financial benefits from that relationship. Now, because of his very poor judgment, his bigotry has been exposed and threatens the organization which has done so much for him. Of course he deserves the consequence of his choices. Certainly the other owners of the NBA do not deserve those consequences. His mistake. Only he should pay for it. The organization has to cut ties with him and distance itself from his views to remain viable. This isn't a moral question. It's business.

[Tonus]

Yeah, but a litmus test for racism might be if you have a black girlfriend, like he did, might mean you are not racist, just my opinion.

Correction: his black mistress. One of many, apparently, which he had no qualms about flaunting.

As for the actions taken against him by the NBA, they are acting within the bylaws that were accepted (indeed, ruled upon) by the owners of the 30 teams. Which includes Donald Sterling. I understand the concern over the fact that this was a private conversation that was leaked to the press, possibly with the intent of harming him. But there are a few things to keep in mind. For one, this is not a case where he blurted out the n-word or made an offhand stereotypical remark. He is warning his BLACK/LATINO mistress against "bringing blacks" to his arena, and demanded that she take any photos with other blacks in them off of her Instagram account. This is not exactly a man who gives a fuck about anyone else's right to privacy and "freedom of speech."

Second, the NBA doesn't have much of a choice in the matter once the tapes go public due to the content. They have a brand to protect, and the same rich old white guys who looked the other way in the past (when Sterling's offensive words and actions didn't blow up in the press) couldn't afford to do so now. They may even see it as an opportunity to portray themselves as sensitive on the issue (in fairness, the NBA seems to have at least three minority owners and one fairly young and liberal owner whose team is most appropriately named the Mavericks). Sterling has been a lousy human being for a long time, and a lousy NBA owner for a long time. The NBA knows that they can only really do something about the latter.

TL;DR-- racist shitbag human who happens to be the owner of a pro sports team makes nasty, disturbing racist comments to his young, half-black mistress just before he dumps her, and pays a much larger price than he anticipated. I --and apparently a lot of other people-- are having a bit of trouble working up any sympathy for him.

[Jackalope]

I cannot muster up even a single fuck to give to the man.

[Manowar]

Yeah, but a litmus test for racism might be if you have a black girlfriend, like he did, might mean you are not racist, just my opinion.

Correction: his black mistress. One of many, apparently, which he had no qualms about flaunting.

As for the actions taken against him by the NBA, they are acting within the bylaws that were accepted (indeed, ruled upon) by the owners of the 30 teams. Which includes Donald Sterling. I understand the concern over the fact that this was a private conversation that was leaked to the press, possibly with the intent of harming him. But there are a few things to keep in mind. For one, this is not a case where he blurted out the n-word or made an offhand stereotypical remark. He is warning his BLACK/LATINO mistress against "bringing blacks" to his arena, and demanded that she take any photos with other blacks in them off of her Instagram account. This is not exactly a man who gives a fuck about anyone else's right to privacy and "freedom of speech."

Second, the NBA doesn't have much of a choice in the matter once the tapes go public due to the content. They have a brand to protect, and the same rich old white guys who looked the other way in the past (when Sterling's offensive words and actions didn't blow up in the press) couldn't afford to do so now. They may even see it as an opportunity to portray themselves as sensitive on the issue (in fairness, the NBA seems to have at least three minority owners and one fairly young and liberal owner whose team is most appropriately named the Mavericks). Sterling has been a lousy human being for a long time, and a lousy NBA owner for a long time. The NBA knows that they can only really do something about the latter.

TL;DR-- racist shitbag human who happens to be the owner of a pro sports team makes nasty, disturbing racist comments to his young, half-black mistress just before he dumps her, and pays a much larger price than he anticipated. I --and apparently a lot of other people-- are having a bit of trouble working up any sympathy for him.

There has been some interesting points of view here. I am not asking anyone to feel sorry for this guy, I am sure he wouldn't piss on me if I was on fire, but it seems like his girlfriend set him up (that's why she was recording him, shouldn't we be talking about her character?) getting him upset so he would say something stupid. I know no one here agrees with me but if you say something like he did in his home like he does not care for black people that is his business. If what he said was said openly I would have no problem with banning him.

PS I better turn off all the recording devices in my home LOL

manowar

[Neo-Scholastic]

What if he was a communist? What if he had a black cuckold fetish?

The best of men are men at best. A world in which a person's public business and livelihood are ruined because of what they say in a heated private argument with their spouse is a very sad one.

[SteelCurtain]

Once again, the reality of the situation is that the comments got out. If you are advocating that if someone says some irresponsible and terrible shit in private, then it gets out by shady means, that the entire collective world should just say, "I don't care because it was clear he didn't mean for it to get out," well that is just ridiculous.

The man's statements affected other people's ability to make money. The fact that those amounts are in the billions makes it all the more reason why he gets ousted. If you break the rules, even in private, but get caught, you still get punished.