Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is in hot water for allegedly making racist remarks about black people in recorded conversations posted on TMZ and Deadspin. NBC News has not been able to authenticate the audio tapes.
This isn’t the first time the billionaire real-estate mogul has been in legal trouble. A look at the 80-year-old Sterling's tenure as Clippers owner and other allegations brought against him over the years:
1981: Sterling purchased the San Diego Clippers for about $13 million.
1983: Author Jeff Pearlman alleged that Paul Phipps, the Clippers general manager in 1982, told him during an interview that the prospective Clippers' coaching candidate Rollie Massimino said Sterling used "the N-word" in an impromptu interview at LAX.
1984: Clippers leave San Diego and move north becoming the Los Angeles Clippers.
2001: The city of Santa Monica successfully sued Sterling on charges that he allegedly harassed and threatened to evict eight tenants who were living under rent control.
2003: The Housing Rights Center and a group of tenants who lived in Sterling’s properties filed a federal lawsuit accusing him of "numerous discriminatory statements and housing practices."
California
2004: Sterling was sued by an elderly woman, Elisheba Sabi, for allegedly refusing to accept her Section 8 voucher to rent an apartment.
2005: Sterling settled the housing discrimination lawsuit filed by the Housing Rights Center and the group of tenants who lived in his buildings. He paid nearly $5 million in legal fees for the plaintiffs and an undisclosed amount as part of the settlement.
2006: The US Department of Justice sued Sterling for housing discrimination after he allegedly made statements against renting to Latino and black tenants.
2009: He settled the discrimination lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice for nearly $3 million and avoided admission of liability.
2009: Elgin Baylor, NBA Hall of famer who served as the general manager for the Clippers from 1986 to 2008, filed a civil lawsuit for wrongful termination against Sterling, the Clippers organization, the NBA and club president Andy Roesner. The suit accused Sterling of having a "vision of a Southern plantation type structure" for the team, with "poor black kids from the South ... playing for a white coach." Baylor also claimed that Sterling would allegedly bring women into the locker room to look at the players and once said to one of the women, "Look at those beautiful black bodies." The suit also accused the owner of allegedly having “a pervasive and ongoing racist attitude expressed toward then NBA player Danny Manning during contract negotiations.” Baylor dropped the the suit on racial discrimination in 2011.
2011: In a March advertisement for the Clippers, Sterling said the team was honored to celebrate Black History Month. Some fans thought it showed disrespect and a lack of compassion on behalf of the owner, since Black History Month happened in February.
2012: Ex-Clipper Baron Davis told The New York Post that Sterling’s heckling at the games
made him not look forward to coming to work.
2014: TMZ reported alleged racist remarks were made by Sterling during a phone conversation with his girlfriend Vanessa Stiviano. NBC News has not been able to authenticate the audio tapes posted on TMZSports.com or the extended clips posted by Deadspin.
2014: NAACP announced that it would revoke Sterling’s lifetime achievement award that he would have received in May and that money donated by the embattled owner would be returned.
