The Clippers were sold last week to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for a hefty price tag of $2 billion. On the same day as the announcement of the sale, we found out Donald Sterling was declared mentally incapacitated, leaving wife Shelly Sterling legally in charge of the family trust which gave her the power to sell the team. Just when it seemed like the Sterling controversy was behind us, a few more strange things happened on Sunday.
Sterling attended service at Zion Baptist Church in Los Angeles on Sunday. The church is known to be predominantly black. According to church pastor J. Benjamin Hardwick, he invited Sterling after meeting with him recently. Whether this is a ploy to fix his public image, or just an honest visit to Sunday Service, it’s hard to see it having any impact, especially considering Sterling’s history of racism and recent marks towards Magic Johnson on national television.
The craziness continued on Sunday night, when V. Stiviano was allegedly assaulted by two men as she was leaving a restaurant in New York. According to CNN:
The assault took place as Stiviano was leaving a restaurant by the Gansevoort Hotel with her sister and friends. The men followed her, yelling racial slurs, said Stiviano’s attorney Mac Nehoray. They punched her several times, leaving the right side of her face red and swollen, he said. Stiviano didn’t immediately file a police report, because “she had to get out of there,” Nehoray said.
This comes after Stiviano — the woman on the audio tapes which ultimately led to Sterling’s lifetime ban from the NBA — uttered her own bigoted remarks about black people.
We keep hoping for this mess to end, but — like racism itself — it won’t die.
(H/T @abc13houston)
What do you think?
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