NAACP yanks Donald Sterling's lifetime achievement award after racist rant
Ronald Martinez / Getty Images
One day after audio surfaced of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling allegedly telling his girlfriend to not associate with minorities, the Los Angeles branch of the NAACP has decided to no longer present Sterling with a lifetime achievement award.
Appearing on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday, NAACP Interim President Lorraine Miller said the remarks were so offensive the organization could not wait for Sterling to respond before yanking the award. "If you’re silent about this, then you’re accepting this," she said.
Sterling has yet to verify if it was indeed his voice on the recording. Still, he has a long history of alleged racial insensitivity — The Justice Department sued him for refusing to rent to minorities, and a former Clippers exec, Elgin Baylor, accused him of having a "plantation mentality" — which has prompted questions about why the NAACP would choose to honor him in the first place.
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Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.