Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has kept quiet since the NBA banned him for life for making racist comments during an argument with his girlfriend. But the New York City-based luxury magazine DuJour claims that the 80-year-old Sterling offered a few words about the situation to its CEO, Jason Binn.
“I wish I had just paid her off,” Sterling told DuJour, referring to his girlfriend V. Stiviano, who got his racist comments on tape.
That’s it, an eight word quote. In a short blog post attributed to the editors of the magazine, DuJour said that Sterling was limiting himself to interviews with the NBA and ABC’s Barbara Walters.
DuJour, which publishes a quarterly print magazine and a monthly digital magazine, describes itself as aimed at “select high-net-worth consumers.”
Last Friday, TMZ published an audio recording of Sterling arguing with Stiviano, and telling her not to bring black people to his games. An attorney representing Stiviano told the Associated Press on Thursday that Stiviano recorded the conversation and then sent two portions of it to a friend, who released it without her permission.
On Tuesday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced that Sterling had been banned by the league and fined $2.5 million. Silver also said he would urge the league’s owners to force Sterling to sell the Clippers.