Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has been banned for life by the NBA in response to racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he will try to force the controversial owner to sell his franchise. Sterling also was fined $2.5 million, and Silver made no effort to hide his outrage over the comments.

"I fully expect to get the support I need from the other NBA owners to remove him," Silver said.

The rebuke, which came three days after the scandal broke, is the harshest penalty ever issued by the league and one of the stiffest punishments ever given to an owner in professional sports.

Silver said a league investigation found the NBA's longest-tenured owner was in fact the person on the incendiary audiotapes released over the weekend.

"We stand together in condemning Mr. Sterling's views," Silver said. "They simply have no place in the NBA."

Silver said Sterling acknowledged he was the man on the tape.

Sterling is immediately barred from attending NBA games or practices, being present at any Clippers office or facility, or participating in any business or player personnel decisions involving the team. He also cannot participate in any league business going forward.

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There we go, thank you for doing this, Appreciate it as always.

[Groans of Anger] >:(

http://www.nj.com/knicks/index.ssf/2014/04/donald_sterling_scandal_kareem_abdul-jabbar_writes_about_why_media_is_peeing_themselves_with_glee.html

He shouldn't have been banned for speaking his opinion. Being intolerant towards racism is not tolerance. I am also confused why the NAACP awarded him anything in the past if he was, according to the NAACP, always this racist.

This whole thing is just completely overblown.
If he were paying his black players less or treating them like shit, it would be different. He was not doing that, as far as I know.

If you guys read what he actually said, it makes it seem like the Jew overlords are trying to bait us into race war.

He said he doesn't want his mistress to post photos of her with Magic Johnson, or other Black Guys on instagram, for fear of what people would think if she publicly associated with minorities. As a private conversation, I don't think he should be penalized....
Don't get me wrong, he's an ass-hat, and if you listen to his reasoning, it's completely illogical, but that's not the point.
The point being is the MEDIA is blowing this way out of proportion.
NOW, WHAT HE SHOULD BE PENALIZED FOR IS HIS TREATMENT OF MINORITIES!
He will not rent apartments to even his own players, or other african americans in the past...... That just goes beyond Stupid.
However, again, The MEDIA is making it sound like he's being banned for what he just said, and I think that's a bit misleading.
ON THE OTHER HAND, The previous complaints have been received and noted, but suddenly "Oh, now we can't hide his nature, so I guess we have to do something now."

>>7 It's not just the media making it seem like he's banned. He is. Clippers fired him and banned him from any association with the NBA.

I agree that it was blown out of proportion, but I can kind of see where they're coming from since the majority of their greatest players are black.

>>8 Not to mention, the amount of flare that comes in even hinting that something was done because of racial prejudice in our society is ridiculous.
Anytime something could be slightly racist, our society eats it up like it came with free big-macs. Do I think he is right to treat his players like that? no. But in the end, everything will always blow up in media when it involves race, because we still haven't been able to move on from it.

>>8 >The MEDIA is making it sound like he's being banned for what he just said, and I think that's a bit misleading

He meant Sterling isn't being banned just because of what he said, contrary to what the media has portrayed.

>>9 Our country is very good at realizing racism is bad, but not very good at realizing what racism is.

Personally? I don't really support the banning, or all of this silly controversy.

Sure, the guy's pretty clearly a bigot, but isn't the whole thing a pretty big invasion of privacy?

I don't support his views or the things he said, but I think if someone recorded just about ANYBODY when they aren't aware at any given time, most anybody says things that would change your public image, though probably nothing as gross as what this dude said.

TMZ said that the lady got permission, but frankly,I don't really believe her.

Ano~ this is a, admittedly, pretty badly done job! But at the same time! It's all about politics~! If people are seen not doing anything about bigotry and rascism, the first thing you say is, "Oh, they must support (rascism)!" And if you have a good friend who isn't of the same skin as you, be they Caucasian, Asian, black, or Hispanic? Then you say, "I can't possibly support this, I can't stomach giving these people my money!" And so now, picture thousands of people thinking like this... It's a major loss of income, oh dear~

>>11 If it's done by TMZ, never trust it. Ever.

>>14 Words to live by.

>>15 I see someone here knows the pain lol. Mom used to always watch TMZ

>>16 They literally make news out of nothing for a living.

>>10 True. There's a lot more to the story than just this recording, and the more popular media groups aren't really touching up on it at all.

>>9 >>10 As far as racism goes, I have no idea where the US draws the line. I've always felt like profiling is alright and that it's okay to reference a person's skin color, but I've never felt that treating someone as if they're lesser than you is okay, especially not for race. It seems like the US is just way too sensitive about it. There's a good reason they're sensitive considering slavery was less than a hundred or so years ago and segregation continued until just recently. They're *still* finding schools in the south with segregated dances and restrooms.

So on one hand, the sensitivity makes sense because there is still so much racism down south. On the other hand, I think the media especially takes it too hard and puts down people who aren't really racists. The race card is way too easy to play in this country.

Actually i find racism something very opinionated, it really depends how people look at it as and of course the media tries to report some irrelevant facts or change the words used into negative imagery

However, if one knows they are " under the radar" of the media, it is only common sense and manners to watch out for the words used

Currently, there are many federal govt in many other countries having racial tensions causing many biased political policies, it is obvious people take it as something serious or sensitive

~~ara-ara

"TMZ just ruined a person's life in a recorded conversation, does that make them...worse than NSA?"

>>19 Racism is believing one culture or ethnic group to be inferior or superior to others. That is not relative.

>>21 In america it is unfortunately. And i'm sure it's like that elsewhere. No one goes by the actual meaning of racism. If someone says something that sounds like it has to do with another race, or it's brought up at all, to many, it's racist, even if there is no implications of superiority because of said description.
Final verdict, I hate humans, I am returning to my cave.

Doug is right im not racist but it seems now that there is almost enough racism to match the old days post civil war and civil rights movement but it seems like it has differ over the years only socity hasent change in offence.no matter black white mexican asian racism is still alive and it isnt getting any better

>>23 You obviously know very little about the level of racism during the civil war/rights movement if you think it hasn't gotten any better.

>>22 How people treat racism may differ but the definition of it still remains clear cut. People are just prone to oversteering, so if they aren't under sensitive they're generally way too over sensative. I don't think that's a new thing, though.

>>24 Given that we're in an age where slavery was abolished barely a century ago, and the civil rights happened relatively recently, it's still gonna take time before all the sensitivity fades, or it shifts to another outlet, which is most likely what's going to happen.

>>25 I'll be waitin'