Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling apologized for the racist comments he made last month on Sunday.
Sterling is the longest-tenured owner in the NBA. He became the owner of the Clippers in 1981. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling from the NBA for life and fined him $2.5 million for the racist comments. Silver has urged the other owners to force Sterling to sell the team. A 75 percent majority in the vote is needed to force Sterling to give up the ownership of the team, according to ESPN. The NBA has made Dick Parsons the CEO of the Clippers, at least for now.
"I'm not a racist," Sterling told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an interview that will air on Monday. "I 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."
He went on to add, "I'm a good member who made a mistake and I'm apologizing and I'm asking for forgiveness," he said. "Am I entitled to one mistake, am I after 35 years? I mean, I love my league, I love my partners. Am I entitled to one mistake? It's a terrible mistake, and I'll never do it again.
Sterling also said that he was set up by V. Stiviano.
Despite the NBA’s attempt to get Sterling out of the NBA, his wife Shelly is fighting to keep her ownership of the team. NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement that if a controlling owner’s interest is terminated by a three-quarters vote, then the other owner’s interests are terminated as well, according to the Associated Press.
''I will fight that decision,'' Shelly Sterling said in an interview with ABC News’ Barbara Walters. ''To be honest with you, I'm wondering if a wife of one of the owners, and there's 30 owners, did something like that, said those racial slurs, would they oust the husband? Or would they leave the husband in?”
She went to add, ''I don't know why I should be punished for what his actions were.''
The Clipper are tied at two games apiece with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals. Game 5 of the series is Tuesday night in Oklahoma.