Banned Clippers owner Donald Sterling says racist comments were 'a mistake'

In this Nov. 12, 2010, file photo, Los Angeles Clippers owner #Donald T. Sterling, right, sits with his wife Rochelle during the Clippers NBA basketball game against the Detroit Pistons in Los Angeles.AP/File

In his first public comments since being banned for life and fined $2.5 million by the NBA for making racist comments recorded by a female associate, disgraced Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling apologized for what he called a "terrible mistake."
"I'm not a racist," Sterling told CNN's Anderson Cooper in excerpts posted from an interview taped Sunday and set to air Monday. "I made a terrible mistake. I'm here to apologize."

The lifetime ban, the first handed down by the NBA for an infraction not related to drug use or gambling, was announced by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver April 29. Silver, who succeeded longtime NBA Commissioner David Stern February 1, also said he would urge the owners to force Sterling to sell the team. Sterling has owned the #Clippers since 1981, making him the longest-tenured owner in the NBA.
In the interview with Cooper, #Sterling said years of good behavior as an owner should count toward his future.

"I'm a good member who made a mistake," Sterling said. "Am I entitled to one mistake, am I after 35 years? I mean, I love my league, I love my partners. Am I entitled to one mistake? It's a terrible mistake, and I'll never do it again."

Sterling said he waited to make a public apology because he was "emotionally distraught."
"The reason it's hard for me, very hard for me, is that I'm wrong," Sterling said. "I caused the problem. I don't know how to correct it."

He later added, "If the owners feel I have another chance, then they'll give it to me."
Sterling's comments came on the same day ABC News posted excerpts of an interview his estranged wife gave to Barbara Walters.

Shelly Sterling said she would fight to keep her 50 percent ownership stake of the team.
"I will fight that decision," Shelly Sterling said. "To be honest with you, I'm wondering if a wife of one of the owners, and there's 30 owners, did something like that, said those racial slurs, would they oust the husband? Or would they leave the husband in?

"I don't know why I should be punished for what his actions were."

ABC posted initial excerpts of the interview and planned to air the rest of it Monday.
Shelly Sterling also said she "eventually" will divorce her husband, and that she hadn't yet done so due to financial considerations.

"For the last 20 years, I've been seeing attorneys for a divorce," she said. "In fact, I have here -- I just filed -- I was going to file the petition. I signed the petition for a divorce. And it came to almost being filed. And then, my financial adviser and my attorney said to me, `Not now."'
Late Sunday, the #NBA issued a statement in response to Shelly Sterling's vow to fight to maintain her interest in the team.

"Under the NBA Constitution, if a controlling owner's interest is terminated by a 3/4 vote, all other team owners' interests are automatically terminated as well," NBA spokesman Mike Bass stated. "It doesn't matter whether the owners are related as is the case here.  These are the rules to which all NBA owners agreed to as a condition of owning their team."

 "We do not agree with the league's self-serving interpretation of its constitution, its application to Shelly Sterling or its validity under these unique circumstances," Shelly Sterling's attorney, Pierce O'Donnell said in response to the statement by Bass. "We live in a nation of laws. California law and the United States Constitution trump any such interpretation."

Source: Fox News