There is, quite understandably, a lot of anger towards LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling. Mark Cuban agrees with everyone who’s denouncing Sterling, but Cuban isn’t ready to call for his total ouster for being a racist. Per the Dallas Morning News:
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has set a Tuesday news conference in which he’s expected to announce findings of the league’s investigation and possibly levy sanctions. Cuban emphasized that the league has a constitution and expressed confidence that Silver will make the right call, but he said a “blanket call” for Sterling’s ouster is a “very, very slippery slope.”
Cuban said that slippery slope was the reason he didn’t want to expound on the Sterling issue when asked about it before Saturday’s Mavericks-Spurs Game 3.
“What Donald said was wrong,” Cuban said. “It was abhorrent. There’s no place for racism in the NBA, any business I’m associated with, and I don’t want to be associated with people who have that position.
“But at the same time, that’s a decision I make. I think you’ve got to be very, very careful when you start making blanket statements about what people say and think, as opposed to what they do. It’s a very, very slippery slope.
“Again, there’s no excuse for his positions. There’s no excuse for what he said. There’s no excuse for anybody to support racism. There’s no place for it in our league, but there’s a very, very, very slippery slope.
“If it’s about racism and we’re ready to kick people out of the league, OK? Then what about homophobia? What about somebody who doesn’t like a particular religion. What about somebody who’s anti-semitic What about a xenophobe?
“In this country, people are allowed to be morons.”
CarMax and Virgin America said they will end their sponsorships of the team, and Kia Motors America plans to suspend its advertising and sponsorship activities with the (Clippers) franchise. Insurer State Farm said it “will be taking a pause in our relationship with the organization.”
Los Angeles-based AQUAhydrate — launched by rap mogul Sean “P Diddy” Combs and actor Mark Wahlberg — also said it was suspending its sponsorship. And the NAACP said it has decided not to honor Sterling with a previously announced lifetime achievement award from its Los Angeles chapter.
