It seems that the former owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers is in for another battle in court. According to a previous report from variety.com, "Donald Sterling has filed a lawsuit against TMZ and V. Stiviano over the leak of a phone conversation last year, in which Sterling could be heard saying racist remarks."
The lawsuit was filed last Friday in the courts of L.A. According to TMZ, "The former love of his life, Stiviano "surreptitiously" recorded their convo sometime between September 2013 and April 2014 and was then given to TMZ." The audio recording was then released by TMZ last April 25, 2014.
The lawsuit also affirms that the audio was adjusted in some way, and that Sterling's discretion rights have been violated as well. According to a previous report by variety.com, "TMZ posted the audio and in turn created a viral backlash against Sterling." Variety further reported that "Within a few days after the audio hit the Web, the NBA banned Sterling for life and hit him with a $2.5 million fine."
The audio recording identified Sterling saying these phrases, "It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people." Further recordings were, "You can sleep with (black people). You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it ... and not to bring them to my games." Sterling accuses TMZ of publishing the tape without his permission and says, as a result, he's been damaged "on a scale of unparalleled and unprecedented magnitude."
Even if these words were said by him or not, it has indeed damaged him which is probably the reason that Sterling and his wife Shelly sold the Clippers to Steve Ballmer for $2 billion as stated in a report by variety.com. There is no turning back for Sterling and the lawsuit is his way of dealing with his damaged reputation.
