Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Monday said that Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s racist rant is only news because he didn’t contribute enough to President Barack Obama’s campaign.
“This is not news to anybody who has known of this guy,” Limbaugh said on his radio show. “This guy is a big Democrat. The only reason he’s in trouble is because he did not give enough money to Obama.”
While some conservative commentators and outlets pegged Sterling as a Democrat based on a few donations he made to Democratic candidates in the 80s and 90s, the Clippers owner is actually registered as a Republican.
Limbaugh said on his show that he learned 10 to 15 years ago that Sterling was a racist, and that everybody in Los Angeles ignored it because the Clippers were overshadowed by the Lakers anyway.
“It’s been so widely know by everybody in the NBA, everybody in the sports media for 10-15 years,” Limbaugh said. “Everybody in the media, from LA to New York, who’s acting shocked about this, I’m telling you they’ve known who this guy is for the longest time. They’ve known he is a slum lord. They know that he is a racist. They know that he’s basically a despicable human being, and now he may be demented.”
Sterling told his girlfriend not to bring black people to his games, according to audio obtained by TMZ, sparking nationwide outrage.
Listen to the audio via Media Matters for America:
