Clippers owner Donald Sterling on V. Stiviano: 'I wish I had paid her off'
Racist comments made by Donald Sterling were first made public this last weekend. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling appears to have broken his public silence for the first time since the NBA banned him for life and fined him $2.5 million for making racist comments on an audio recording first released by TMZ.
Sterling spoke to DuJour magazine's Jason Binn, saying that he is not going to sell the team and that he is only willing to do interviews with the NBA and television reporter Barbara Walters. Sterling also told the magazine that he wished he would have paid off V. Stiviano.
Stiviano, Sterling's girlfriend who appears on the recording of his racist remarks, recently said she was ''very saddened'' by his lifetime NBA ban. Stiviano's lawyer claims she didn't release the audio of their conversation.
Sterling, who reportedly has been battling prostate cancer, has owned the Clippers for 33 years.
PHOTOS: Notable Suspensions in Sports
The NBA owners’ advisory/finance committee held its first meeting about Sterling via conference call to discuss ending his ownership of the team “as expeditiously as possible."
More from DuJour magazine:
Sterling expressed remorse for the way his situation’s unfurled. Speaking of girlfriend Vanessa Stiviano, who released to the media audio footage of Sterling on a racist tirade, Sterling says, “I wish I had just paid her off.”
MAHONEY: Playbook mechanics: Clippers, Warriors’ creativity lost in the ugliness of Game 6
