Obama on Donald Sterling: Remarks ignorant and 'incredibly offensive'

After an audiotape surfaced Saturday purporting to catch Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling making offensive racial remarks, everyone from current and former players to late night TV hosts weighed in with their opinions on the controversy. But President Obama, who perhaps more publicly than anyone grappled with America's lingering racial issues when he ran for president, blasted the comments as "incredibly offensive" and "racist" on Sunday, framing them within the broader context of America's segregated past.

"When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don't really have to do anything, you just let them talk," Obama said.

In the tape, a man presumed to be Sterling tells his girlfriend not to bring black people to his team's games, and says people of different races shouldn't even associate with each other. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Saturday the league is investigating whether it is indeed Sterling's voice on the tape before it will decide whether to punish him.

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