More on Alleged Sterling Remarks
BROWN: The outrage over racially charged comments allegedly made by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is beginning to boil over. Sterling reportedly is caught on tape saying, among other things, that he doesn't want his girlfriend associating with African-Americans at Clippers games. The inflammatory comments were posed online by TMZ Sports.</s>V. STIVIANO (voice-over): People call you and tell you that I have black people on my Instagram and it bothers you?</s>DONALD STERLING (voice-over): Yes, it bothers me a lot. If you want to promo -- broadcast that you're associating with black people. Do you have to?</s>STIVIANO: You associate with black people.</s>STERLING: I'm not you and you're not me. You're supposed to be a delicate white or a delicate Latina girl.</s>STIVIANO: I'm a mixed girl.</s>STERLING: OK. Well,</s>STIVIANO: And you're in love with me. And I'm black and Mexican, whether you like it or not. He happens to be black and I'm sorry.</s>STERLING: I think the fact that you admire him. I know him well and he should be admired. And I'm just saying that it's too bad you can't admire him privately. And during your entire</s>BROWN: So take a look. This is the Instagram picture in question showing his girlfriend with the legendary hall of famer Magic Johnson. Basketball fans, players, owners are demanding a swift response from the NBA. And CNN has confirmed the NBA will hold a news conference tomorrow morning about its investigation. CNN is also confirming that some Clippers sponsors are pulling out. Online auto retailer CarMax and Virgin America Airlines announced today that they are ending their relationships with the ball club. State Farm says it's taking a pause in its relationship. And the stakes here are high for the fans, the city. Should there be an all-out boycott? That's the question at this hour. And here to discuss that and more, CNN Sports, Rachel Nichols, and syndicated columnist and host of the "L.A. Urban Roundtable," Earl Ofari Hutchinson. Great to have you both here with us.</s>EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: My pleasure.</s>BROWN: Earl, I want to start with you. I just looked at your blog and you say that Sterling is no aberration. He has a tainted history in the city of Los Angeles, having been sued by the federal government for housing discrimination. So why shouldn't people be surprised by what's come out?</s>HUTCHINSON: Well, actually, I wasn't. And I've got to say, most people that know his history of Donald Sterling and his relationship, by the way, with the Clippers and the city of L.A., they were not surprised. I mean this is typical Sterling. I mean we've got a long history, a well-documented pattern with Donald Sterling. There have been lawsuits. There have been allegations of harassment. There have been many claims against Donald Sterling over the years. There have been settlements with the - with many government agencies. And on top of that, Donald Sterling, by his own admission, at time has made statements that, to say the least, are intemperate. So, no surprise about that. I think the bigger question is, why did this go so long? How did this happen over so many years? You've got to remember, Donald Sterling has owned the Clippers for 30 years. He's been a fixture in L.A. Been so much a part of the social and political tapestry of L.A. for so many years. How could this happen? And now that it has happened, the bigger question is, what does the NBA, at the end of the day, he's your baby, he's one of your owners, what are you going to do about it?</s>BROWN: Yes, that is still the looming question. In light of what you just said, Earl, do you support a boycott of the team?</s>HUTCHINSON: Well, originally, when it came out, many people were saying, we've got to boycott, we've got to boycott, we've got to do this. Here's what we decided to do. We said, no, we're not going to go with the boycott for a couple of reasons. Number one, it's grossly unfair to the Clipper players. These young men have sacrificed. These young men have honed their craft. These young man have paid diligent attention to their professionalism. They're in the fight for their life for a championship. I don't think it's fair for them and even the fans that loyally have supported them to make them pay, to penalize them for the stupidity, the dumbness, the ignorance and the bigotry of an owner. I don't think that's fair. However, having said that, the position that we did take, and many other thoughtful people have taken too is, those that feel strongly and we hope anyone of certainly right mind would, that feel strongly about the statements and also the conduct of Donald Sterling should use their own judgment, voice their protest anyway they can or want to. And if they feel that we cannot as individuals support this team in anyway shape or form, then go right ahead. You should do that. Exercise your own judgment, but do something, take some action.</s>BROWN: And we saw the players doing that when they turned their shirts inside out in a showing of solidarity. Rachel, I want to go to you. You're in Charlotte right now covering the playoffs. This story moving very fast. What are the next steps for the NBA here? What can the NBA commissioner do here?</s>RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN HOST, CNN'S "UNGUARDED WITH RACHEL NICHOLS": Well, Adam Silver, the new commissioner, who, by the way, has only been in office for less than three months, is going to give a news conference tomorrow. A lot of hope around NBA circles is that he's going to announce an indefinite suspension for Donald Sterling until this matter can be investigated further. However, there is a limit to what he can do. The NBA constitution is a secret. It's not a public document. But from what has leaked out, there does not appear to be any way to force Donald Sterling to sell this team. There's a vague sort of best interest in the game power that the commissioner has and that's what he may use eventually to fine Donald Sterling, although Donald Sterling is worth $1.9 billion. So, how much of an impact is a fine going to make. He could suspend Donald Sterling maybe for a year, maybe even two years or even indefinitely. And the idea and the hope would be that if he made him so uncomfortable, if he was removed from day to day operations, if sponsors are pulling out the way that they are, there would be some way to convince Sterling, hey, it's in your best interest and the interest of everyone else to sell the team. That's what happened with the former Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott, who was in a similar situation. But Donald Sterling's not Marge Schott. He's proved himself to be a verily litigious guy. He holds on to everything. He is not a guy who is probably going to go gently into the good night. This is going to be a fight. It's going to be very interesting to see how Adam Silver handles this.</s>BROWN: And, Rachel, we've heard from some of the other owners around the league, including Michael Jordan. He said that he is completely outraged. How much are these other owners giving (ph) to get involved in this? How is that going?</s>NICHOLS: Well, Earl's absolutely right, these other owners have stood by and let what has long been considered the worst one among them stand as a member of the NBA ownership community. Nobody just woke up this weekend and realized Donald Sterling had a problem. This has been allowed to let pass. So I think that other owners are feeling now, thankfully, some of the public pressure and heat over that. We've seen some of the more new guard (ph) owners come out and say, hey, this is not acceptable. But to their credit, even some of the old guard (ph) owners have come out and said the same thing. All of that being said, the politics that come down in the end of this</s>BROWN: Yes, it will be so interesting to see how this all plays out. Earl, I want to go back to you. The NAACP rescinded a humanitarian award that it was going to give him I think - I believe next week. Were you surprised that he was even going to be getting this award in the first place given his track record?</s>HUTCHINSON: No. Because you've got to remember one thing, and I wrote about this in one of my columns in 2009. The NAACP - now, let's be clear on one thing. We're not talking about the national NAACP. We're not talking about the California statewide NAACP. We're talking about the L.A., Los Angeles NAACP. There's been some confusion about that. Now, what happened was, in 2009, many people forget this, Donald Sterling got an award. He got a lifetime achievement award from the NAACP L.A. branch in 2009. I opposed it then. I said, you, the NAACP, are the oldest venerated - most venerated civil rights organization in the country. Why are you doing this? Why are you giving this award to an individual that has no merit whatsoever in the battle for civil rights, equal opportunity and equal justice. It seems to me an award from the NAACP must be given to someone who's earned their spear -- spurs in the civil rights battle. Sterling doesn't qualify. So now we fast forward five years. I said then it's going to come back to haunt you if you continue to do this. Well now we see it has come back to haunt the organization.</s>BROWN: Yes, you can imagine it's a bit of an embarrassment for them to say the least. Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Rachel Nichols, thank you so much for sharing your perspective and insight. And be sure to stay with us. In just about 10 minutes from now, L.A. Clippers head coach, Doc Rivers, will be speaking to the media and we'll be sure to bring that to you live. And coming up, at least 16 are dead after powerful twisters flattened homes in the plains and the south. And more bad weather is on the way. So, what could be in store for this afternoon, in just a few minutes. And next, as investigator enter a new phase of the search for Flight 370, experts say it could take months to find anything. So, what they say could be the key to locating the missing plane. That's next.