Blake Griffin Speaks Out About Donald Sterling
- Updated: October 17, 2014
Blake Griffin has provided fans and readers with his voice on the Donald Sterling saga that consumed most of the Clippers’ headlines last year.
Writing his own segment for Derek Jeter’s “The Players Tribune”, Blake Griffin discussed in-depth his encounters with ex-owner, Donald Sterling.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]The Los Angeles Clippers forward compared Sterling to a “weird uncle” contrasting to that of new owner, Steve Ballmer, which he describes as a “cool dad.”[/su_pullquote]
“It’s little bit ironic to me that the media has tried to turn Ballmer into a meme when they turned a blind eye to Sterling for years,” Griffin wrote. “Steve is a good dude. He’s like a cool dad who gives you candy. Donald was like a weird uncle.”
The drama began earlier this year when a tape of a racist rant was released by TMZ while the Clippers were in the midst of their playoff series with the Golden State Warriors. Griffin was not only angered by the tape’s surfacing, but he also had mixed feelings.
“I was conflicted when the tapes came out last season, and suddenly everyone had an opinion on what we as players should be doing to handle it,” Griffin wrote. “When I woke up the morning after the tape leaked, I had 40 or 50 text messages. The first thing I did was listen to the tape in bed. It was shocking to actually hear what he said, but not really that surprising to me.”
In his article for “The Players Tribune”, Blake recounts the first time he learned of Sterling’s glaring racism. One of the first things he did when he was drafted by the Clippers in 2009 was to “google” Donald Sterling.
“When I knew the Clippers were drafting me, the first thing I did was type Donald Sterling’s name into Google,” Griffin wrote. “The first hit that came up was ‘Donald Sterling is a racist.’ I read an article on how he didn’t want minorities to live in his apartment buildings. My first thought was, Wow this guy is really, really a racist … how is he an owner of an NBA team? My second thought was, Wow, these articles are from 2003 and 2008. I guess everybody already knows about this stuff and just doesn’t care.”
The Los Angeles Clippers forward compared Sterling to a “weird uncle” contrasting to that of new owner, Steve Ballmer, which he describes as a “cool dad.”
Blake Griffin talks about his feelings on what happened, he wrote, “Someone asked me the other day if I’m mad that he made out with $2 billion for selling the team,” Griffin wrote. “Maybe a little bit. But in the end, I’m just happy he’s gone. I think about him pulling me around the White Party in Malibu, and a saying comes to mind: ‘Some people are so poor, all they have is their money.”
To read the full piece, click here.
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