Real estate mogul Donald Trump condemned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s alleged racist comments on Monday, but suggested Sterling had been “set up” by the “girlfriend from hell.”
TMZ released audio that purported to be a conversation between Sterling and his girlfriend V. Stiviano on Friday, in which Sterling told Stiviano that he didn’t want her taking photos with black people or bringing blacks — like NBA legend Magic Johnson — to basketball games with her. The fallout was swift and widespread: everyone from President Barack Obama to Michael Jordan condemned the remarks and the NAACP revoked Sterling’s lifetime achievement award.
“It’s terrible. He got set up by a very, very bad girlfriend, let’s face it,” Trump said on “Fox & Friends.”
“She’s called the girlfriend from hell, but what he said was terrible and despicable and a very strong action’s going to be taken,” he added. “There’s no question about it.”
Sterling’s wife, Rochelle, sued Stiviano last month in an attempt to recover a duplex and three luxury cars she says her husband bought for the girlfriend, according to the Los Angeles Times. In response, Stiviano argued that Rochelle Sterling had to have known that her husband was carrying on extramarital affairs.
Trump went on to say that Stiviano was “baiting” Sterling and called her a “terrible human being.” Sterling did give “horrible” and “disgusting” answers to Stiviano’s questions, he said, but the NBA owner may have been in questionable mental health.
“He could be pretty much out of it in terms of his whole mentality,” he said. “The whole thing is so crazy, and the way she led him along — he should know if he were there, if he was with it, he would know after one or two of those questions that she was asking that there is something going on here.”
The NBA said over the weekend that it was conducting an investigation into the matter. Trump said Sterling should be expelled from the league and thought its new commissioner, Adam Silver, would “make the right decision.”
h/t Politico
Someone needs to set you up, there, Bowling Pin.
I agree. That despicable girlfriend made Sterling say those racist things. She’s a modern day Mata Hari.
She may have set him up, and she is clearly a gold digger, but she didn’t make him say what he said. She also may have committed a crime by taping him without his permission since California requires both parties’ consent. These are two lowlifes.
Yeah and those poor southern boys back in the 60s were set up by those damn northern Freedom Riders.
Donald take that thing off your head and stuff it in your mouth. PLEASE
That’s right, it’s the old “Why did you make me hit you?” thing. Privileged rich slobs would never do anything wrong if they weren’t provoked by some scheming powerless person. Very compelling explanation there.