A major racism scandal has rocked the NBA today after TMZ released a recording of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling making bigoted comments about Black people to his girlfriend.
The tape comes from a conversation between Sterling and his girlfriend in which the owner was apparently upset with an Instagram photo that showed her posing with Magic Johnson. "Don’t put him [Magic] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me.  And don’t bring him to my games," says Sterling during the nine-minute rant. "I’m just saying, in your lousy f—ing Instagrams, you don’t have to have yourself with, walking with Black people.”

He continues, “You can sleep with [Black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it on that...and not to bring them to my games.”

Johnson has responded to the explosive recording, telling TMZ, "it's a shame that Donald Sterling feels that way about African-Americans." He adds, "He has a team full of amazing African-American basketball players that are working to bring a championship to Clippers fans. The Clippers also have a strong minority fan base."

Sterling's girlfriend, who identifies herself as "mixed" on the tape, takes objections to the 81-year-old's racist views, calling him out on his comments. 
This isn't the first time the Clippers owner has been called out for his racism. In 2003, a lawsuit was brought against him for housing discrimination against minorities.
The timing of this scandal couldn't be worse for the Clippers, who are capping off a great season by facing the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs. According to TMZ, the players have all heard the recording and "there is tremendous anger among the Clippers players."
The NBA, meanwhile is investigating the recording to determine its authenticity. "We are in the process of conducting a full investigation into the audio recording obtained by TMZ," says NBA repAlex Kennedy via Twitter. "The remarks heard on the recording are disturbing and offensive, but at this time we have no further information." 
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 (Photos from left:  Stephen Dunn/Getty Images, Charles Norfleet/Getty Images)