Al Sharpton Applauds NBA’s Life Ban Decision On Donald Sterling

Story by NewsOne
Written by DL Chandler

At the news of the NBA deciding to ban Donald Sterling for life, after he admitted to making the statements that recently aired, the Rev. Al Sharpton (pictured left) released the following statement:

“The lifetime banning of Donald Sterling is a bold and appropriate action in this matter. This is a huge victory for those of us that stood against this ugly display of racism. We must continue to make unequivocal stands against bigotry and racism. I look forward to speaking to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and beginning the dialogue with other civil rights leaders right away to discuss putting in measures to make sure this never happens again.”

Sharpton wasted little time in responding to the allegations that Sterling told his girlfriend, who is of Black and Mexican descent, to not bring Black people to his team’s games. The host of Reach Media News-Talk Radio Network's “Keeping it Real with Al Sharpton” was out front when he appeared this past Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press” Sunday morning and spoke frankly with host David Gregory about the plans of action if Sterling was not dealt with properly.

From “Meet The Press“:

REV. AL SHARPTON: Well, I think that clearly the National Basketball Association must suspend him, or must say that, “We’re going to remove any kind of imprimatur we have on this team if he’s the owner.” You cannot have someone own an NBA team in this country and have these kind of attitudes. You must remember, he settled multi-million dollar discrimination lawsuits in the past, so he has a background. ...the NBA ought to move right away. Let’s not play games here...

DAVID GREGORY: Right.

REV. AL SHARPTON: He needs to state unequivocally, “That’s not me on the tape.” If it is him on the tape, they need to move today, or we’re going after advertisers, saying, “How can you advertise with a team owned by a man with this kind of attitude.”

In subsequent days, on-site and broadcast several advertisers suspended their advertising commitments from the Clippers organization.

Following the NBA commissioners' announcement yesterday, players' union representative Roger Mason expressed that "if the punishment was not severe enough, playoff teams were not going to play." Silver's action met to the satisfaction of the players, however a timetable for the owners' vote was demanded.

Kirk Tanter contributed to report.