Clipped on FX tells the story of Donald Sterling, played by Ed O’Neill on the show, the disgraced former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, who in 2014, was forced to sell the team when his history of racism and sexism came to light.
The controversy started when a tape-recorded conversation between Sterling, then 80, and his mistress Vanessa Stiviano in which Sterling made racist remarks, was leaked to TMZ. Stiviano said the content of the recording was just one of many similar conversations she had with Sterling, then the longest-tenured owner in the league. After the tape went public, other examples of Sterling’s racism and sexism were exposed, both from his time in the NBA and from when he made his fortune in Los Angeles real estate, NBC Los Angeles reported.
Donald Sterling was banned for life
With Donald Sterling’s racist remarks in the media and facing massive public pushback, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced that Sterling was banned for life from NBA games and practices. “[Sterling] may not be present at any Clippers facility, and he may not participate in any business or any personnel decisions involving the team,” Silver said. The NBA would also force Silver to sell the team, Silver announced, and fine Sterling $2.5 million which the league would then donate to anti-discrimination groups.
Sterling later called the racist comments in Stiviano’s recording a “terrible mistake” and asked for forgiveness. Sterling’s estranged wife Rochelle “Shelley” Sterling, tried to keep the Clippers in a Sterling family trust. But before long, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer reached a $2 billion deal to buy the team.
Donald Sterling said he’d sue the NBA until he dies
Amid the racism scandal, the NAACP revoked Donald Sterling’s lifetime achievement award, and before the Ballmer deal was finalized, he pledged he’d never sell the team. ” … [U]ntil I die, I will be suing the NBA,” Sterling said.
The Clippers controversy pitted Donald and Shelley Sterling against each other, and they nearly divorced, but reconciled. Two years later, in 2016, Donald settled his NBA lawsuits, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Donald is pleased with the outcome and is looking forward to focusing on future endeavors,” his lawyer said. In 2017, Sterling changed his tune about the fallout and told NBC News he’d moved on. “I am as happy as I have ever been. I am as comfortable as I have ever been. And I don’t want to do anything to disturb that,” he said.
Shelley, however, still sought to revoke her husband’s NBA ban, calling it a disproportionate punishment for the crime. “I have talked to [the NBA] several times and I don’t know what they will do. Maybe they will and maybe they won’t [lift the ban]. Maybe it takes a little bit more time,” Shelley said. As of 2024, Sterling was still alive, banned from the NBA, and worth billions, after turning his attention from basketball back to his real estate empire.