Donald Sterling Faux-pologizes, Takes Shots At Magic Johnson In Exclusive CNN Interview

Soon-to-be-former Clippers owner Don Sterling has broken his silence on the racist comments he made, telling CNN’s Anderson Cooper, in an exclusive interview, that he’s not a racist, he’s sorry people got their fee-fees hurt, bitch set me up, oh, and by the way, fuck Magic Johnson.

CNN is offering a five-minute first bite at the interview, which airs tonight on AC360, so here’s hoping that Cooper pushed back at the many ridiculous things that Sterling says, not the least of which is “I’m not a racist.”

In the meantime, though, CNN viewers will be treated to a largely uncritical stream of Sterling’s self-pitying, nonsensical stream of thought. Sterling puts on a creased sad-face emoticon and a textbook Paula Deen quiver in his voice as he tells Cooper “I’m not a racist. I’ve made a terrible, terrible mistake. and I’m here with you today to apologize and to ask for forgiveness for all the people that I’ve hurt,” but continues to insist he’s not a racist, and that he was “baited” into saying all of that racist stuff.

One thing that people should be clear on with regard to Donald Sterling is that, when he says he was “baited” into saying those things, he means he was baited into saying them on tape. His girlfriend didn’t say “Hey, Don, I’m really glad you don’t like black people, because otherwise, I’d have to stop sleeping with you,” she was like “Hey, remember all of those assholish things you said about minorities? Please say them again now.”

Later, he tells Cooper that he’s spoken to Magic Johnson twice since the controversy erupted, and when Cooper asks if he apologized to Johnson, he says “If I said anything wrong, I’m sorry.”

In the very next breath, he says, of Johnson, “Has he done everything he can do to help minorities? I don’t think so. But I’ll say it, he’s great. I just don’t think he is a good example for the children of Los Angeles.”

Some other takeaways from the first bite…READ MORE

By: Tommy Christopher

Tommy Christopher is The Daily Banter's White House Correspondent and Political Analyst. He's been a political reporter and liberal commentator since 2007, and has covered the White House since the beginning of the Obama administration, first for PoliticsDaily, and then for Mediaite. Christopher is a frequent guest on a variety of television, radio, and online programs, and was the villain in the documentaries The Audacity of Democracy and Hating Breitbart. He's also That Guy Who Live-Tweeted His Own Heart Attack, and the only person to have ever received public apologies from both Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.