Donald Sterling: LA Clippers owner 'says racist remarks were to encourage companion to sleep with him'

Sterling says his words were not motivated by racism but jealousy over companion V Stiviano's friends

(Getty Images)

The disgraced owner of the NBA basketball team the LA Clippers, who was recently banned from running the team after being taped making racist remarks, has reportedly said the reason for the rant was because he was trying to sleep with the woman that recorded him.

Donald Sterling, who was banned by NBA administrators from having anything to do with the club he has ran for nearly 25 years, was caught on tape by his younger companion V Stiviano last month, making a wave of derogatory comments about black people.

The outburst included Sterling, who says he is not racist, complaining about Stiviano posing for a picture with black NBA legend Magic Johnson and a warning to Stiviano that she should not bring black friends to Clippers’ games.

However, now a second tape has emerged, pertaining to be of Sterling, explaining that the 81-year-old made the comments because he was trying to bed Stiviano.

The new recording, appears to catch a conversation between Sterling and one of his long-term friends, in which the multi-millionaire claims that his comments were not motivated by racism but jealousy and a desire to sleep with his companion.

On the recording released by American celebrity website RadarOnline, a man's voice,reportedly belonging to Sterling, says: “I didn't want her to bring anybody to my games because I was jealous, I mean I'm being honest. No one's going to hear it but you and me so.

"The girl is black. I like her. I’m jealous that she’s with other black guys. I want her. So what the hell. Can’t I in private tell her, 'I don’t want you to be with anybody?'"

The man adds: “The picture is not (the issue). I wish Magic Johnson was talking to a girl and you trying to play with her, and you might say anything. You might say you have the biggest penis in the world! I would have said I could fly over a high rise building if I had to!”

Read more: The US sporting arena - where black men excel, but racism lingers

The man also appears to suggest that Sterling believed his comments would help to encourage Stiviano to sleep with him.

He said: "I’m talking to a girl. I’m trying to have sex with her. I’m trying to play with her. If you were trying to have sex with a girl and you’re talking to her privately and you don’t think anybody’s there, you may say anything in the world."

Sterling is yet to comment on the recording or confirm whether it is indeed him.

Stiviano has said since the initial tape that she has never slept with Sterling. However, she does admit that the pair were close.

In the light of the recording being released, the NBA moved quickly to condemn Sterling’s comments and ban him from the league.

Last month, NBA commissioner Adam Silver put in place a lifetime suspension on Sterling and a $2.5 million fine.

This is a decision Silver has stuck by, and he is hoping that the league’s board of governors will agree to force Sterling to sell the Clippers.

This is a decision that Sterling disagreed with and in the latest recording he appears to outline his disappointment.

“So they should take away for life your team (if) you say the wrong thing to a girl? I know what I said was wrong. But I never thought the private conversation would go anywhere, out to the public.”

Adding: “You can’t force someone to sell property in America! I’m a lawyer, that’s my opinion."

The new tape recording was released just hours before LA Clippers put in place Barack Obama's former financial advisor, Dick Parsons, as the interim CEO of the Los Angeles-based basketball team.