Yikes. Just weeks after disgraced Clippers owner Donald Sterling famously took a swipe at NBA legend Magic Johnson with a racist remark in a taped phone conversation, he slammed him again this week, this time as cameras rolled.
Sterling, 80, sat down for an extended interview with Anderson Cooper on Anderson Cooper 360, and addressed his relationship with the former Lakers player. He said Johnson, 54, reached out to him after the scandal broke, and said he would help him “work it out” and that he should stay quiet in the meantime.
While he has apologized since the audio recording of his offensive comments hit the web, Sterling is still is not a fan of Johnson’s. He questioned the basketball player’s worth, repeatedly asking “what has he done?”
When Cooper reminded Sterling that Johnson is also a businessman in addition to an athlete, the controversial figure countered, “He’s got AIDS. Did he do any business? Did he help anybody in South L.A.?”
Cooper clarified that Johnson “doesn’t actually have full-blown AIDS,” but HIV, to which Sterling responded, “Well, what kind of a guy goes to every city, has sex with every girl, then he catches HIV? Is that someone we want to respect and tell our kids about? I think he should be ashamed of himself. I think he should go into the background. But what does he do for the black people? He doesn’t do anything.”
Following the airing of the interview, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver released a statement reading, “I just read a transcript of Donald Sterling’s interview with Anderson Cooper and while Magic Johnson doesn’t need me to, I feel compelled on behalf of the NBA family to apologize to him that he continues to be dragged into this situation and be degraded by such a malicious and personal attack. The NBA Board of Governors is continuing with its process to remove Mr. Sterling as expeditiously as possible.”
Watch a clip from Sterling’s interview with Cooper above and head over to CNN.com for more from Sterling.
