Michael Jordan, former NBA player and current owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, on Sunday condemned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s racist comments and called on the National Basketball Association to investigate Sterling’s alleged remarks.
“I look at this from two perspectives — as a current owner and as a former player. As an owner, I’m obviously disgusted that a fellow team owner could hold such sickening and offensive views. I’m confident that Adam Silver will make a full investigation and take appropriate action quickly,” Jordan said in a statement.
“As a former player, I’m completely outraged. There is no room in the NBA — or anywhere else — for the kind of racism and hatred that Mr. Sterling allegedly expressed. I am appalled that this type of ignorance still exists within our country and at the highest levels of our sport. In a league where the majority of players are African-American, we cannot and must not tolerate discrimination at any level,” he continued.
Sterling told his girlfriend not to bring black people to his games, according to audio published by TMZ on Friday. And Deadspin released extended audio of Sterling’s conversation with his girlfriend on Sunday.
The NBA announced Saturday that it is investigating the recording.
Bravo! A most excellent pile-on is happening in real time.
Who is next?
TPM this new forum doesn’t work well on FIREFOX 28.0 on a Macbook Pro! It’s terrible!
Racism, how can that be?? Didn’t the Supreme court ruling suggests that racism is a thing of the past?!
I’m thinking Mr. Sterling is going to have to find a new Girlfriend.
The media is about 3 seconds from making Mr. Sterling a victim.
Of course all black basketball players past and present think this is very sickening and bad.
Can we just put that as a given?
I never was a Jordan fan (“Republicans buy shoes, too”), but his response here is appropriate and timely.