Reputation Risk: Exhibit No. 2,357
By now, I’m sure many of you have read about Donald Sterling, the current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers.
If you haven’t, here are the Cliff Notes. Mr. Sterling owns an NBA franchise. He allegedly became angry when his girlfriend brought a black person to a Clippers basketball game as a guest. Unknown to him, she taped a very long conversation where Mr. Sterling uttered a number of racist comments against African Americans. A news organization posted the tape online.
As you can imagine, the allegations outraged countless people across the country. Sponsors are pulling away from the Clippers. The team’s players are protesting. Other NBA owners are angry, and the NBA itself is investigating exactly what happened. On Tuesday, they banned Sterling for life.
But it gets worse. Other stories are coming out about other racist things Mr. Sterling allegedly did. And said. Going back years and years.