The disgraced owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, Donald Sterling, insisted he's not a racist in an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN Monday evening.
Sterling, who was recently banned from the NBA for life for essentially saying African Americans are not welcome attendees at Clippers games in recordings that his former girlfriend released. Though he still owners the Clippers, the other team owners are expected to vote soon on whether Sterling should be forced to sell.
During the interview, Sterling repeatedly apologized for his comments, saying his ex-girlfriend V. Stiviano "baited" him into saying what he did.
The owner also used the air time to "ask for forgiveness" from all the people he's "hurt."
Yet in the same interview, Sterling lashes out at Magic Johnson, former LA Lakers star who was one of the first prominent voices to call for his ousting.
Donald Sterling: @MagicJohnson 'should be ashamed of himself.' http://t.co/uaFjVcuBMH pic.twitter.com/EQXFAbslCM
— Vaughn Sterling (@vplus) May 13, 2014
He disparages Johnson's battle with AIDS, asks what he has done to give back to people around him, and implies that African Americans do not give back to surrounding communities as much as other groups of people.
In the video below, CNN hosts a small roundtable discussing Sterling's apology and why so much of it focused on Magic Johnson.
However, Johnson, who is CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises, a company that strives for "community/economic empowerment," seems to just want to move past the situation.
I'd rather be talking about these great NBA Playoffs than Donald Sterling's interview.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 13, 2014
After this week, no more Sterling talk. Just the NBA Playoffs, my @Dodgers and my @LA_Sparks!
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 13, 2014
But for Sterling, the audio hits keep on coming. In another recently released recording of a formerly private conversation, which you can listen to below, Sterling says he only made the racist comments because he was trying to have sex with Stiviano.