Donald Sterling Sues Ex-V. Stiviano and TMZ Over Leaked Racist Rant
The former owner of the L.A. Clippers claims that the audio recordings that got him in trouble were “doctored” and that his privacy rights were violated.
Donald Sterling, the former NBA team owner whose racist telephone rant precipitated his loss of the L.A. Clippers, on Friday sued the ex-girlfriend accused of leaking the audio and the entertainment news outlet that broke the story, according to Variety.
The lawsuit accuses ex-girlfriend V. Stiviano of “surreptitiously” recording phone conversations between Sterling and she between September 2013 and April 2014, the report says. Her agents, according to the suit, then provided the audio to TMZ.
A man identified as Sterling can be heard on the recordings saying about Stiviano's Instagram photo with former L.A. Lakers Magic Johnson: “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it … and not to bring them to my games,” writes the news outlet.
In the aftermath of the scandal, Sterling and his wife, Shelly, sold the Clippers under pressure for $2 billion to former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.