What you can count on now is that it there won’t be a status quo. Deadspin has gotten a new, extended recording of Donald Sterling allegedly making racist and misogynistic comments. Since the story broke, Clippers team members and other star athletes have been outraged. Note the word “allegedly” because there hasn’t been 100 percent verification that it’s him — but virtually everyone believes it is indeed him. And, given the furor, the burden of proof on showing that it isn’t will fall on him (and on his attorney).

The new material is particularly damning. Those who will inevitably surface and dismiss the furor as PC will be ignoring a fact: there are unstated lines in American culture that cannot be crossed for people who intend to remain in the national mainstream. And Sterling has crossed it. The latest (and Deadspin’s Kyle Wager doesn’t mince words).

Deadspin has acquired an extended, 15-minute version of the conversation between Clippers owner Donald Sterling and his then-girlfriend V. Stiviano. If the original nine-minute tape acquired by TMZ left any questions about Sterling’s opinions regarding minorities, the audio here should remove all doubt that he’s a doddering racist with views not too far removed from the plantation.

You can find the new audio in the above video, which contains the transcript. (This version is also a little crisper than the original and has some extra background activity around the edges, which indicates that this was recorded in a house.) As with the original, we don’t know if this has been edited in some way. The NBA is investigating. Thus far, Sterling’s team has offered only a tepid response, lightly suggesting the possibility that the original audio had been doctored and pointing out that V. Stiviano had recently been sued by the Sterlings.

In this audio, Sterling expresses ideas similar to the ones he did in the original: The world will think certain things if you’re seen with black people, he tells his mistress, so you should not be seen with them in public, and under no circumstances should you bring them to Clippers games. How does he square his dim view of black people with the fact that he has an NBA team full of black players? Sterling responds with a breathtaking non-sequitur.

And here it is:

V: I don’t understand, I don’t see your views. I wasn’t raised the way you were raised.

DS: Well then, if you don’t feel—don’t come to my games. Don’t bring black people, and don’t come.

V: Do you know that you have a whole team that’s black, that plays for you?

DS: You just, do I know? I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? Do I know that I have—Who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make the game? Is there 30 owners, that created the league?

And much more including:

V: Honey, if it makes you happy, I will remove all of the black people from my Instagram.

DS: You said that before, you said, “I understand.”

V: I DID remove the people that were independently on my Instagram that are black.

DS: Then why did you start saying that you didn’t? You just said that you didn’t remove them. You didn’t remove every—

V: I didn’t remove Matt Kemp and Magic Johnson, but I thought—

DS: Why?

V: I thought Matt Kemp is mixed, and he was OK, just like me.

DS: OK.

V: He’s lighter and whiter than me.

DS: OK.

V: I met his mother.

DS: You think I’m a racist, and wouldn’t—

V: I don’t think you’re a racist.

DS: Yes you do. Yes you do.

V: I think you, you—

DS: Evil heart.

GO HERE to listen to the audio yourself.

Serling continues to be denounced.

By NBA players:

The players in the National Basketball Association spoke out Sunday about racist comments attributed to Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

The Clippers players staged a silent protest. As they warmed up for an NBA playoff game, the players removed their warmup shirts bearing team logos to reveal red T-shirts worn inside out, with the logos hidden. They finished warming up, removed the red shirts and played the game wearing their regular uniforms.

The National Basketball Players Association demanded Sterling be barred from all playoff games this season. The players also want an accounting of past accusations of racism against Sterling; an explanation of what kind of discipline might be issued; assurance that the league commissioner will work with the association; and assurance the investigation will be conducted swiftly.

And throughout the day, past stars including Michael Jordan slammed Sterling.
Sterling wasn’t there to see the protest or his team lose 118-97 to the Golden State Warriors. He agreed to stay away from the game because of the controversy that heightened Sunday when the website Deadspin released an additional audio recording of a conversation that purports to be Sterling talking with girlfriend V. Stiviano earlier this month.

By Magic Johnson:

“I’m very disappointed, angry and upset,” said Johnson. “Let’s go back when I first got here in 1979. Dr. Buss took me to my first real party at Donald Sterling’s house in Malibu for his annual BBQ. Ever since then, since Dr. Buss introduced me to him at the time he bought the Clippers, we’ve been out, we’ve had lunch and even shared meals to talk about his team, so I thought we had a sort of a friendship, even though it may be a distant one.”

Johnson added, “I respect him, I thought he respected me, but when these comments came out, it hurt. It didn’t hurt me as much personally as it hurt me for all African Americans.

If you come to me and say, ‘Hey look I’m a racist or I discriminate against blacks or I don’t like you because you’re African American, I respect that. I can respect you more by doing that, but don’t smile in my face, shake my hand and then you don’t really respect me or want me to be around or come to your games as the owner of the Clippers.”

Magic said he also felt bad for the players and people associated with the Clippers organization.

“I feel bad for Doc Rivers, Chris Paul and all those guys who are African Americans that play for Donald Sterling. Then you think about all the people who live in his apartment building – some of them are African Americans, too. We’re putting a lot of money to his pocket, but at the same time he doesn’t want us in there or come to the Clipper games.

I think that all of us are outraged. We are all upset … If you’re going to be like this, ‘why do you own a team in the NBA which is over 70% African American basketball players?’”

Johnson is clear on what he thinks should happen next.

“I think he should step down. If you feel like that in a league that is predominately African Amercians, you shouldn’t be owning a team.”

After all this, Magic suggests Sterling would be well advised to sell the team.

On Twitter there’s a tidal wave. Just a few:

Donald Sterling's Wife — He's Despicable and Prejudiced http://t.co/Gmyjl8hWDg

— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) April 28, 2014

Predictions now abound: At the least, some contend, the NBA will sanction him. At most, a movement will begun to get him to sell a team staffed by people who he apparently doesn’t want to really be associated with due to their color.

What’s not predicted: the status quo.

JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.

themoderatevoice.com/