Abraham Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League’s national director labeled as “reprehensible” the racist remarks attributed to Donald Sterling, the Jewish owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, and other Jewish groups chimed in with condemnation.
“If the National Basketball Association’s investigation reveals that Mr. Sterling in fact made these racist and intolerant statements, we expect and anticipate a swift and forceful response,” Foxman said in a statement.
TMZ published a 10-minute recording, reported here in The Jewish Press, of the racist rant on its website, saying the recording was a conversation between Sterling and his model girlfriend, V. Stiviano.
Sterling, the son of Jewish immigrant parents, allegedly tells his girlfriend, who is black and Mexican, not to be seen in public with black people or to post photographs of herself with black people on Instagram. He also tells her not to bring black people, including Magic Johnson, to his team’s basketball games.
.Amanda Susskind, ADL’s Pacific Southwest regional director, called on Sterling to reject the statements attributed to him.
“In Los Angeles, the most diverse major city in the country, we take as a point of pride that our leaders — in business, in government and in the community — embrace and accept this diversity without bias or bigotry,” Susskind said in a statement. “Both are suggested in the shocking language attributed to Mr. Sterling. We hope he disavows both the language and the sentiment behind it.”
The American Jewish Committee condemned the remarks and called on the NBA to take appropriate action against Sterling.
“Donald Sterling’s callous remarks regarding African Americans are a painful reminder that, 60 years after the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education, and 50 years after the enactment of the Civil Rights Act, there is still work to be done,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. “And that someone so deeply involved in the NBA, which exemplifies the racial tapestry of our country, would think this way is all the more striking.”