The mercurial Donald Sterling, who vowed legal action to retain ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers before announcing that he wouldn’t sue, has filed a lawsuit to block the sale of his team to former Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer.
Sterling’s wife, Shelly, sold the team after having her husband declared incapacitated. Sterling seeks to challenge that assessment, and thus the subsequent sale, in court.The longtime Clippers owner came out swinging against the NBA, which won indemnification against lawsuits as a condition of okaying the $2 billion sale of the team to Ballmer, in a statement released Tuesday. It reads:
I was brought up in America and educated to believe that every citizen has a right to privacy and right to freedom of speech. As a lawyer and citizen, I am shocked (but not surprised) that the NBA wants to take away those fundamental rights.
I feel that every American has to protect those rights and that the NBA should not be allowed to take away those rights. I have apologized for my mistakes. My apology is sincere. I want every American to know that I will not give up fighting for those rights.
I also feel that the leadership of the NBA is incompetent, inexperienced and angry. It is clear that they took this opportunity to settle the personal grievances they have harbored against me for years.
The NBA has a history of discriminatory practices which is supported by the numerous lawsuits filed by NBA employees claiming gender based discrimination. Adam Silver has worked for the NBA since 1992. He must know about the discriminatory practices of the NBA which are all matters of public record. The reason Adam Silver is focused on the sale, instead [of] the larger social issue, is because doing so would require him to examine the NBA’s own discriminatory practices, including those that occurred under his many years in leadership. If the NBA is sincere about their approach, Adam Silver needs to publicly examine the NBA’s own conduct and the conduct of each and every Owner.
For now, it seems Adam Silver is content with focusing his energy on violating my rights, attempting to take my property, and signing autographs for TMZ. Maybe once the dust settles, he will have some time to focus on the NBA’s own transgressions.
The NBA continues to thrive and exact its reign of terror in large part from the money it receives from the Fans. The NBA is a band of hypocrites and bullies. They will not stop until someone stands up. They have taken the liberty to desecrate my privacy rights and my right to own property. I have no doubt that they will continue to find new ways to violate my rights and the rights of any person in order to draw attention away from their discriminatory and repulsive conduct.
We have to fight for the rights of all Americans. We have to fight these despicable monsters. THIS IS THE REASON I WILL NOT SELL MY TEAM.
Donald T. Sterling
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver issued a lifetime ban and a $2.5 million fine to Sterling after TMZ.com released audio of the longtime NBA owner making racist remarks in a surreptitiously recorded conversation with his mistress.