Donald Sterling must apologize to L.A., city officials say

The NBA’s decision to ban Donald Sterling for life was met with praise at Los Angeles City Hall, which continues to target the L.A. Clippers owner.

“Today we feel like justice has begun to be served,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said.

The L.A. City Council on Tuesday condemned remarks attributed to Sterling and demanding a personal apology to Magic Johnson and all Angelenos.

The resolution, presented by Councilman Bernard C. Parks, also asked The Times and other newspapers to stop running ads for Sterling’s real estate empire and “alleged civic activities.” The Times had no immediate comment on the request to drop Sterling’s advertisements.

In an emailed statement, Times spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan said: “The Los Angeles Times understands and shares the outrage surrounding the unconscionable racist comments the NBA has confirmed were made by Donald Sterling. We review the content of any advertising we accept to ensure our standards and guidelines are followed. The Times also reserves the right to refuse any advertising submitted for publication in our sole discretion.”

In a news conference before the Tuesday vote, Parks said the city should “go on record to condemn the statements made by Mr. Sterling and clearly separate itself from those statements.”

He added that “at the minimum, Mr. Sterling owes the city of Los Angeles a personal apology.”

An amendment to the resolution by Council President Herb Wesson also requested that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver come to L.A., speak with city officials and “come up with a mechanism to address the community.”

Council members chimed in to condemn the remarks attributed to Sterling. “His comments have no place in basketball or in our community,” Councilman Curren Price said.

The original version of Parks’ resolution also called for Silver to take “appropriate censorship actions” against Sterling. Before the vote, Silver announced that Sterling had been banned for life from any association with the Clippers or the NBA and would have to pay a $2.5-million fine.

When Parks learned of the ban during the meeting, he asked to alter his resolution to “strongly endorse” the action announced by Silver. Garcetti earlier said he wanted “fast action and strong action” by the NBA.

“This isn’t just about tainting the Los Angeles Clippers, this taints the entire National Basketball Assn.,” Garcetti said Monday.

The resolution also called on the Los Angeles branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People to revoke its nomination of Sterling for the NAACP Humanitarian Award. The award has already been withdrawn after a recording of the remarks attributed to Sterling was posted online by celebrity news website TMZ last week. As the scandal unfolded in recent days, the L.A. chapter faced questions about its longtime association with Sterling.

“I don’t know if they looked as closely as is being scrutinized now,” Parks said. “But I think it’s been resolved.”

In the recording, a man said to be Sterling argues with a woman over her Instagram photos taken with Magic Johnson, saying, “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people.”

An attorney for the woman identified by TMZ, V. Stiviano, said the recording was authentic. On Tuesday, Silver also confirmed that the voice was Sterling’s.

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