*Donald Sterling's Consequences for Free Speech

Who is Donald T. Sterling?  Donald Sterling was born Donald Tokowitz on April 26, 1934. He is an American businessman and attorney. He was the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers professional basketball franchise of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1981 to 2014. At 33 seasons of ownership, Sterling was the longest-tenured owner in the NBA since the death of Los Angeles Lakers majority owner Jerry Buss in 2013.

What Did Sterling Do?  On April 25, 2014, TMZ Sports released a recording of a conversation between Sterling and a female friend, V. Stiviano. In the recording from September 2013, Sterling was irritated over a photo Stiviano had posted on Instagram, in which she posed with the African American Basketball Hall of Fame player Magic Johnson. Sterling told Stiviano: "It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people", and, "You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want", but "the little I ask you is ... not to bring them to my games"

How NBA Teams Reacted  Sterling's comments affected the NBA, a league with predominantly black players. On April 26, 2014, the team held a meeting to discuss the incident. Both coaches and players expressed anger toward the comments, and they briefly raised the possibility of boycotting Game 4 of their series against the Golden State Warriors on April 27, 2014, before deciding against it. Instead, players protested Sterling's remarks by wearing their shirts inside-out in order "to obscure any team logo" during their pre- game huddle. The next day, April 28, 2014, players of the Miami Heat wore their uniform tops inside-out to show solidarity with the Clippers.

How Sterling’s Supporters Reacted  The Los Angeles chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) cancelled its plans for the following month to award Sterling for a second time with its lifetime achievement. President Barack Obama characterized the recording of Sterling as "incredibly offensive racist statements". Chumash Casino, the Clippers' most visible sponsor during the prior four seasons, ended its relationship with the team, as did sponsors CarMax and Virgin America. Other sponsors and advertisers suspended their relationships with the Clippers while continuing to monitor the situation.

How the NBA Reacted  On April 29, 2014, NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced that Sterling had been banned from the league for life and fined $2.5 million, the maximum fine allowed by the NBA constitution. Silver stripped Sterling of virtually all of his authority over the Clippers, and banned him from entering any Clippers facility. He was also banned from attending any NBA games. The punishment was one of the most severe ever imposed on a professional sports owner. Moreover, Silver stated that he would move to force Sterling to sell the team, based on a willful violation of the rules, which would require the consent of three-quarters, or 22, of the other 29 NBA team owners.

Questions

1. What is Donald Sterling Connection to the NBA?

2. How did Sterling’s racist comments reach the public?

3. How did players protest Sterling’s comments? Do you think this was an effective protest?

4. How did the NAACP, President Obama, and sponsors react?

5. How did the NBA react? 6. Was Donald Sterling punished too harshly? Is he protected by the 1st amendment?