Magic response
Magic Johnson on Tuesday responded to Donald Sterling's comments slamming the Hall of Famer, telling TMZ that the whole situation is "sad" and that the banned Los Angeles Clippersowner is directing his anger at the wrong person.
"We've got to pray for the man," Johnson said Tuesday.
In an interview that aired Monday on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," Sterling went from apologizing for his recent racist remarks to attacking Johnson, repeatedly bringing up the ex-NBA star's HIV status and calling him an unfit role model for children. "He's got AIDS!'' Sterling said loudly at one point in the interview.
"It's very disturbing. I think when you come on, No. 1 you should have your facts straight," Johnson told TMZ. "I don't have AIDS, I have HIV. I've been living with HIV for 22 years. That's his opinion if he thinks I'm not a role model. I know the things that I've done in urban America and for people."
Johnson also was interviewed by "Anderson Cooper 360," with it set to air Tuesday night. In that interview, Johnson calls Sterling "a man who's upset and he's reaching."
"He's trying to find something that he can grab on to help him save his team. And it's not going to happen. It's not going to happen," Johnson told CNN in a soundbite from the show released by the network. "The board of governors now have to do their job. Adam Silver, our commissioner of the NBA, did a wonderful job of banning him for life. Now the Board of Governors have got to do their job."
Johnson told TMZ he's sent over 10,000 minorities to college and through his Magic Johnson Foundation has invested over a billion dollars in urban America and has put more than 50,000 minorities into jobs. He said he's given inner-city kids access to computers to do their homework via the 18 technology centers his foundation is responsible for and he's overseen food and toy drives and job fairs.
"I'm proud of my work and I'm excited about what I do," he said.
Sterling said in the interview with CNN that he has talked to Johnson twice since and apologized for his racist comments on the leaked audio recording that prompted outrage throughout the NBA and the nation when they were released, leading to his lifetime ban and $2.5 million fine from the league.
Johnson, however, said Sterling still hasn't apologized to him for his comments. He also said Sterling wanted Johnson to appear with him in an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters but Johnson refused.
"Donald Sterling reached out to me, I took the call. I'm the one, when he wanted me to go on Barbara Walters with him and try to save him and his reputation, I told him I would not go on the show with him and I told him you should seek the advice of your attorney and try to make this thing go away," Johnson told TMZ. "Whether that's making a deal with [girlfriend V Stiviano] or whatever the case may be. And, No. 1, you've got to apologize not only to me but all minorities out there because you haven't apologized yet. He said, 'oh, I'm gonna get to that. I'm gonna get to that.'
"Not once, even today, has he has never apologized to me or the other minorities he offended."
Stiviano, had posted a photo of her and Johnson on her Instagram account. Sterling told her to remove the photo in the audio recording before he made his racist remarks.
"I don't know that young lady. I took a picture and all of a sudden I'm in the middle of this mess," Johnson told TMZ. "But at the same time I will not let you attack me without responding. And so that's what I've done in this situation. I responded. I responded for myself: You don't want me to come to your games? Then I won't come. You don't want blacks to come? Then I'm going to fight for those people.
"I'm a proud black man. I'm one of the leaders in the black community and I take that role seriously. I don't have any ill feelings anymore to Donald. I think we all should try to get him some help. I think it's a shame."
Johnson went on to say that Sterling is misdirecting his anger in the situation. Johnson also said he believes Sterling's strategy is to attack him and try to pit the African-American and Jewish communities against each other, "but it's not going to work."
"He should point that anger at the young lady that he's in love with that put this out. I had nothing to do with this. You put me in it Donald by saying those terrible things about me."
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Blacks like this are just as poisonous as the white supremacists.
you cant be fukking serious with this bullshyt
