Companies flee the L.A. Clippers amid fallout from racist rant
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State Farm, CarMax, and Virgin America have all suspended their sponsorships of the Los Angeles Clippers after a recording of racist remarks attributed to team owner Donald Sterling was published at TMZ.
Calling the comments "completely unacceptable," a CarMax spokeswoman said in a statement obtained by ESPN that it's dropping its sponsorship of the team after nine years because the remarks "directly conflict with CarMax's culture of respect for all individuals." State Farm said that while it may still sponsor individual members of the team, the company will be "taking a pause" from advertising with the organization itself.
Virgin America also made the decision to end its sponsorship, reports CNBC. The team now has six sponsors remaining, including Amtrak and Anheuser-Busch.
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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.