Donald Sterling

By Larry Elder, Apr. 30, 2014

This is absolutely absurd.

The 80-year-old rich, near-$2-billion-net-worth owner of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, gets set up by his thirty-something mistress/girlfriend. She secretly records him, clearly goading him into saying something incendiary.

What damaging thing does she get him to say? What’s the very, very worse thing she gets him to say? He doesn’t want her to bring her “black friends” to the basketball game, one in particular, Magic Johnson.

Now these “black friends” can attend games without her. Why Sterling even said she could “f--k.“ these friends. Just don’t bring them to my games, and while you’re at it, take their pictures off your social media.

For this the NBA announced a lifetime ban, and the commission recommends that the other owners vote to force Sterling to sell his team. Lifetime ban? Marge Schott, who referred to her “million dollar nigger” player and collected Nazi memorabilia, among other offenses, received multiple suspensions -- not a total ban.

George Steinbrenner, a convicted felon who made illegal donations and who once hired a private detective to dig up dirt on one of his ballplayers, received multiple suspensions -- but not a total ban.

The “racist” Sterling practices his “racism” this way.

For 22 years, Elgin Baylor, a black legendary ex-Laker, served as Sterling’s general manager. True, he refused to give Baylor the money to build a competitive team. But Baylor, not exactly in bondage, stayed and even won NBA Executive of the Year in 2006.

The Clipper’s head coach, Doc Rivers, is a championship-winning black man who came at a price. Their black starting guard earns $18 million this year. And Sterling’s mistress/girlfriend -- the one in question -- is a black Latina.

Regarding Sterling’s exclusion of blacks from games, unless you are a black friend of his girlfriend, you need not worry. If you are, you can go -- just not there with her. Now, you can sleep with her. Just don’t sit with her at the game. Not a bad deal, coming from a “racist.”

Spike Lee said Sterling has the “mentality of a slavemaster.” Sterling’s “slaves” have the sixth highest payroll in the 30-team league, where NBA salaries average about $5 mil. And the massa tells his girlfriend she can “f---“ the slaves, just don’t do it on the plantation. This is the same Lee who said he dislikes interracial couples, who called then-Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., “a card-carrying member of the Klan,” who speculated that the levees in New Orleans during Katina were intentionally breached, and who said of Charlton Heston, president of the NRA, “somebody should shoot him with a .44-caliber Bulldog.”

We get a lecture on race sensitivity from Lee?

The Rev. Al Sharpton, ironically scheduled to headline an NAACP event bestowing Sterling with a lifetime achievement award, condemned Sterling. Sharpton. Sharpton! SHARPTON? Where to start? Falsely accuses a white D.A. of raping a black teen. Calls whites “interlopers” and Jews “diamond merchants.” Caught on FBI surveillance tape attempting to arrange a huge drug deal. Owes million in unpaid taxes. Encouraged riots that resulted in deaths. And that’s just the short list.

Rapper/actor Will Smith, in a rap song, takes a swipe at a certain libertarian host by calling him “Uncle Tom.” Smith owns a piece of the Philadelphia 76ers. Should the NBA launch an investigation into this alleged “hate speech” against a radio host with a differing political point of view?

Of course not. But that’s where this road leads.

I interviewed L.A. City Councilman Bernard Parks. Tell me the most offensive thing on the tape, the most, I asked? He said the part where Sterling said that he provided this and that to his players in a demeaning way. Specifically, Sterling said: “I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them?”

Well, he does. And the checks don’t bounce for either the black or white players.

Okay, Sterling, also the owner of thousands of rental units in Los Angeles, got nailed for his body of work: losing seasons, refusing to pay enough to keep good players; lawsuit by Baylor for wrongful termination and age and race discrimination (Baylor lost); two major settlements with housing authorities for discrimination.

Somehow none of this disqualified Sterling -- until now.

Sterling is not afraid of court. He has nearly $2 billion. He can hire private dicks in every franchise city and dig up -- or extract by set up -- damaging information about a lot of owners, players, executives.

Attention city council: We taxpayers pay your salaries. We provide you with cars, clothes, housing. Have I insulted you?

And why is “sexism” given a back seat to “racism”? Bill Maher owns a piece of the NY Mets. He called Palin a “c--t,” Michelle Bachman a “dumb t--t” and made a joke about Palin’s son who has Down Syndrome. Why is that okay? Because he’s a comedian. Yes, one who appears on news shows, and whose opinion people take seriously.

Imagine a hidden mic in the kitchen of some foul-mouthed comic who uses words like “c--t” in public. Imagine what he says, how he feels, what he thinks in private?

The left railed against the impeachment of Bill Clinton, insisting to this day that Clinton was punished for private behavior, never mind the perjury thing. But the way Sterling was set up, not a problem.

Does Sterling see the hypocrisy and double standard? If so, hell hath no fury like a near multi-billionaire scorned.


Related: TMZ: Donald Sterling: BAN IS COMPLETELY UNFIAR… says Larry Elder