National Basketball Association

Sterling: 'I wish I had just paid her off' to hide racist rant

Published May. 2, 2014 6:25 p.m. ET

foxsports

Donald Sterling no longer is welcome in any NBA arena and his ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers is in jeopardy after a recording of his bizarre racist rant became public last Saturday.

Rather than apologize for his comments, however, Sterling is reportedly expressing a much different type of remorse.

He is not sorry for what he said. Apparently, he is sorry for failing to buy the silence of Vanessa Stiviano, the woman who made the recording.

“I wish I had just paid her off,” Sterling said, according to DuJour.com. Sterling reportedly went on to say he's limiting his interviews to Barbara Walters and the NBA.

The episode appears to have begun after Stiviano, who has been described as Sterling’s girlfriend, assistant or archivist in various reports, posted an Instagram photo of herself posing with Los Angeles Lakers great Magic Johnson. In the recording, which TMZ originally posted, Sterling admonished Stiviano for bringing “black people” to his games and told her not to “promote” her association with them.

Sterling was subsequently banned from any NBA activity or involvement for life by league commissioner Adam Silver, in addition to a $2.5 million fine.

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