Extended Audio Of Clippers Owner Released: ‘There’s No Racism Here’

In this photo taken on Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, right, and V. Stiviano, left, watch the Clippers play the Sacramento Kings during the first half of an NBA basketball game in ... In this photo taken on Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, right, and V. Stiviano, left, watch the Clippers play the Sacramento Kings during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles. The NBA is investigating a report of an audio recording in which a man purported to be Sterling makes racist remarks while speaking to his Stiviano. NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement Saturday, April 26, 2014, that the league is in the process of authenticating the validity of the recording posted on TMZ's website. Bass called the comments "disturbing and offensive." (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) MORE LESS
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This post has been updated.

After TMZ published audio on Friday of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling allegedly telling his girlfriend he didn’t want her to bring black people to his games, Deadspin posted additional audio from the conversation on Sunday.

Deadspin notes that they do not know for sure if the recording has at all been altered.

At the beginning of the new audio excerpt, Sterling’s girlfriend, V. Stiviano, talks about Sterling asking her to remove photos of black people from her Instagram account.

“Honey, if it makes you happy, I will remove all of the black people from my Instagram,” she says, explaining that she removed all photos except of baseball player Matt Kemp and Magic Johnson. “I thought Matt Kemp is mixed and he was okay, just like me. He’s lighter and whiter than me.”

“You think I’m a racist,” Sterling responds, then adding that Stiviano thinks he has an “evil heart.”

“I think you have an amazing heart, honey. I think the people around you have poison mind, and have a way of thinking,” she responds.

Sterling then attributes his requests to “culture.”

“It’s the world! You got to Israel, the blacks are just treated like dogs,” he says. “We don’t evaluate what’s right and wrong. We live in a society. We live in a culture. We have to live within that culture.”

In the tape, Stiviano challenges him.

“Do you know that you have a whole team that’s black, that plays for you?” she asks.

“I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives that to them? Does someone else give that to them? Do I know that I have — Who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make the game?” Sterling responds.

Then, when Stiviano compares the Holocaust to “racism, discrimination,” Sterling insists he isn’t racist.

“There’s no racism here. If you don’t want to be walking into a basketball game with a certain person, is that racism?” he asks at the end of the extended tape.

Listen to the audio at Deadspin.

The Clippers issued a statement about the original audio recording on Saturday.

“We have heard the tape on TMZ,” the statement said. “We do not know if it is legitimate or it has been altered. … We do know that the woman on the tape — who we believe released it to TMZ — is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Sterling family, alleging that she embezzled more than $1.8 million, who told Mr. Sterling that she would ‘get even.'”

The statement said that the recording does not reflect Sterling’s views.

“Mr. Sterling is emphatic that what is reflected on that recording is not consistent with, nor does it reflect his views, beliefs or feelings,” the statement said. “It is the antithesis of who he is, what he believes and how he has lived his life. … He feels terrible that such sentiments are being attributed to him and apologizes to anyone who might have been hurt by them.”

The National Basketball Association said on Saturday that they would investigate the tape.

“We are in the process of conducting a full investigation into the audio recording obtained by TMZ,” NBA spokesperson Mike Bass said. “The remarks heard on the recording are disturbing and offensive, but at this time we have no further information.”

Correction: The original version of this post identified Matt Kemp as a basketball player. He is a baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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Notable Replies

  1. You think I am racist? Well, a second kick at the cat leaves no doubt.

  2. This is my favorite line:

    “It’s the world! You got to Israel, the blacks are just treated like dogs,”

    So if Israel (supposedly) treats blacks like dogs…???

    It means we should too? Is that what he’s saying, that treating black people as dogs is acceptable elsewhere, so…meh?

  3. V will be for Vivid,thats all she will need

  4. “I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses.”

    Seems like they earn those things for themselves. You pay them for their talents and their work. You don’t get credit for paying your employees.

  5. ““There’s no racism here. If you don’t want to be walking into a basketball game with a certain person, is that racism?”

    Rationalization, Smasinalization. What a twisted psyche you have to have to think this way. Taking compartmentalization to a whole new level.

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