thanks. [ male announcer ] troubleshoot, manage appointments, and bill pay from your phone. introducing the xfinity my account app. hello again, everyone. i'm fredricka whitfield. here's what's topping our news this hour. stunning recorded comments rattling the nba. the long time owner of the los angeles clippers, donald sterling, is under fire for allegedly making racist comments about african-americans. tmz released a recording that it claims is sterling arguing with his girlfriend seen here with him. in this photograph. she allegedly says he doesn't want her associating with african-americans at clippers games and takes issues of an

instagram picture of her with magic johnson and this is the picture attained by tmz sports. they also got another picture referencing other recordings of the girlfriend with l.a. dodgers player, matt kemp, here is a piece of that recording. >> i saw someone i admire. i admire magic johnson. >> okay, good. >> i'm sorry -- >> okay. >> he's made a lot of changes for his community, for the world, for the people, more the minorities. he's helped a lot of people. >> why are you forcing this down my throat? i'm funnished talking to you. >> i took a picture with someone i admire. >> good. >> he happens to be black, and i'm sorry. >> i think it's nice that you admire him. i know him well and he should be admired. and i'm just saying that it's too bad you can't admire him privately and during your entire [ bleep ] life, your whole life admire him, bring him here, feed

him, [ bleep ] him, i don't care, you can do anything but don't put him on instagram for everyone in the world to see so they can call me and don't bring him to my games, okay? >> deadspin got an access to additional recording. listen to that clip. >> if you don't feel -- don't come to my games. don't bring black people and don't come. >> do you know that you have a whole team that's black, that plays for you? >> 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 -- >> all right, we can't confirm the authenticity of these recordings. the attorneys for sterling's girlfriend have released a statement saying the tape is legitimate, but she didn't release it, and then there is

another twist in this story. sterling's wife filed a lawsuit against his girlfriend last month so all of this happening as the clippers are on the court, game four of the playoffs under way right now in oakland, and that's where we find our stephanie elam. stephanie, the clippers are not on their home turf, they were in oakland but you apparently have had a chance to talk with some of the folks in the crowd. what have they been saying about all of this? >> reporter: well, there's a lot going on here, fredricka. for one thing a couple of too emthat we spoke to do believe that sterling should be ousted in some way or another. we talked to one clippers fan who says he's here to support the players. they are out here doing their job. he is here for them but he does need to go and inside as you can see they are playing inside the oracle coliseum and the warriors are ahead right now. it is not in the best way they'd like to say that they're going into this playoff game obviously for the clippers, but the clippers did have a message to

share. they went ahead and at the beginning while they were doing their warmups they did take off their jerseys. they had on long sleeve t-shirts on inside-out, dropped the sw t sweatshirts in the middle of the floor and took them off. whether or not they were going to make a statement it seems to be out there. interesting to know you talk about black men who play for the clippers so i think there may have been a conflict how you address this. as far as the coach, doc rivers said that their focus right now, they don't like what was said but their focus is on winning this game. take a listen. >> this is a situation where we're trying to go after something very important for us, something that we've all dreamed about all our childhoods, and you know, donald nor anyone else had to do with that dream and we're not going to get anything get in the way of the dream. >> reporter: speaking of the players, the black men that play for the clipper action one of them is chris paul and happens to be the president of the

players association. he put out a statement as well saying on behalf of the national basketball players association, this is a very serious issue which we will address aggressively. they also want mayor kevin johnson, former nba player, to expand his responsibilities with the association and determine their next response and their next steps. so you have to imagine it's an interesting position for these players, because they're focused on winning. this is their job, what they get paid to do and also having this massive distraction coming to you by hands of the owner of the team. >> you wonder what distraction it is for these elite players. has mayor kevin johnson responded? >> reporter: we have not heard what the plan is. i think that's part what have people are waiting to hear from him on monday. what the union is going to do for these players, also what the overall nba is going to do about this and how they are going to address this and handle this and how do you get rid of an owner. it's not the same as having a coach or player who is doing something out of line here and also the checking the authenticity of these tapes.

one thing i can tell you, though, fredricka, the naacp, the los angeles chapper was going to honor him with a lifetime achievement award, that is no longer going to happen, fred. >> okay, and stephanie, just a moment ago you talked about how the players came out, they had their red shirts inside-out when they were warming up. we have some snapshots right now of some of the players who are wearing those red shirts inside out and you're saying that was kind of a statement being made there, non-verbal statement perhaps being made about this controversy surrounding the owner? >> you would have to believe so. they're honoring their jerseys, playing in their jerseys, not going out of uniform for the actual game so you have to take that as some signage. again, as a black person, i imagine that they're conflicted right now. how do you play this game and do what you want to do and win but at the same time acknowledge to the world this is not cool and i think that may be what they were letting us know. why would you have your logo on

inside out. >> once game play logo has to be right side out, playing in uniform with their jerseys in the proper procedural way. lot to read into that warmup. stephanie elam, thanks so much. in oakland, we'll check back with you. so this controversy was spread around the world, very quickly. even president barack obama was asked about it while traveling in malaysia. >> when ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don't really to do anything, you just let them talk and that's what happened here. >> earlier i spoke with cnn sports rachel nichols and she says donald sterling has a past which might support these latest actions perhaps? >> it's not surprising to hear that kind of talk from donald sterling. for those of your viewers who aren't familiar with him before this incident, give you a little background here. sterling made some of his money in real estate development and two separate times he was sued

by the u.s. justice department for discriminating on what kind of tenants he wanted in his buildings, not wanting to rent to blacks, not wanting to rent to hispanics. instead of fighting the lawsuits there was enough evidence against him he settle ford huge amounts. one time it was a record amount. in 2011 he was sued by elgin baylor. baylor is one of the greatest to ever play in the nba. he's an 11-time all-star who worked for sterlig in the management of the clippers. baylor filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against sterling and one of the quotes entered into the record in that suit was sterling allegedly saying that the reason he discriminated back in his apartment buildings was that "black tenants smell and attract vermin." of course all of this has been public knowledge before this audio recording came out, and the nba has been criticized in the past for not doing anything about sterling, but now, this recording, it really does seem to be the tipping point, fred, and a lot of people are demanding they take action.

>> and so what is the kind of action that the nba would be able to take? >> adam silver is the new commissioner of the nba. he just took over a little bit less than three months ago and he has an enormous task to unravel this. there aren't a lot of clear guidelines in the nba bylaws for this situation. first of all, he's got to determine the authenticity of the recording which he's promised to do "extremely quickly" in a matter of days. then he's got to marshall consensus among the other nba players to see how far he can go in punishing sterling. it will be tough to move him out and sterling it known to be a he will letigious guy. he could be success spended frommer in interaction or decision-making from the team or possibly for life, they could fine him. >> i spoke with kareem abdul jabbar who worked for sterling some years ago for about three

months he said and this was his reaction when he heard the comments. >> i'm kind of reminded of what happened with presidential candidate romney, when he was taped in a way that he wasn't aware that he was being taped so his comments were a lot more candid than they would have been if he had known that the media was listening so i think that's what happened to mr. sterling. he has a bad reputation as far as i'm concerned, you know, the cases that he lost about discriminating against blacks and hispanics and people with children that wanted to rent some of his properties. you know, that was kind of like a milestone, and then we hear these comments. i used to work for mr. sterling. i coached the flippers for about three months and the year 2000. i know him, i know his voice. i'm not surprised by this very much, and that's really i think

the most unfortunate part of this. >> wait a minute, you said you're not very surprised. you know him. you know the man. you know his voice as one who used to work for him, but along, you know, those three months that you worked for him, did you ever hear these kinds of comments, did you ever read from him that there was this kind of sentiment that these recorded, these recordings seemed to display? >> none whatsoever. he was for the most part congenial. he invited me to his daughter's wedding. it wasn't like he, i felt shunned. given what i heard him saying to on this recording, if it works out it hasn't been doctored it seems it hasn't, we can't have this.

it's a very offensive and repug tant attitude for someone to have and for him to be an employer of so many people of color kind of blows your mind. >> kareem abdul jabbar there in our exclusive interview with him and another one of the biggest names in the history of the nba has plenty to say about the racial controversy surrounding the clippers owner, don sterling. you'll hear from him coming up next. huh, 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know that game show hosts should only host game shows?

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alleged recordings of nba team owner donald sterling is

allegedly heard on a phone recording making racist remarks. the alleged comments have now triggered an nba investigation. also sterling takes issue

he shouldn't own a team anymore

and he should stand up and say i don't want to own a team anymore, when you have african americans renting his apartments, coming to the game and playing for him and coaching for him. this is bad for everybody. it's bad for america and so i'm really upset about it. >> magic, you from an ownership capacity to being a hall of fame player to now your role with the dodgers, you mentioned not going to any clipper games again as long as he's affiliated with the teal. that's a strong statement. if you're not welcome, obviously everybody below you so to speak isn't welcome. can you talk about that statement about not attending? >> he said don't bring me to the game. >> don't bring magic. >> don't bring magic, on the tape. i have no problem with that. i won't be going, and then he said other african americans, they're not welcome either, and so this is not good this is not good and not good for not just

the league but for mamerica. i think about jalen, the fact that we have made him money but they're not welcome at the game, and so that's, you know, you can't get over that. that's why everybody's upset, black, white, latino, everybody's upset. markie mira will weigh in on the private recording that allegedly contained these racist comments. what's next, legally.

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all right, back to this nba team owner, donald sterling, is under fire after allegedly making a racially insensitive comments that were caught on tape. he denies he's a racist on the tape but an nba investigation is pending. let's bring in cnn legal analyst mark o'meara. let's talk about this from a legal standpoint. there is precedent when you start to hear from former colleagues in the nba from karim to magic and then there is the i guess the legal paper trail. other discrimination cases whether it be as a result of his apartments, you've got elgin

baylor who has his own discrimination case history. because of this precedent and now this recording, are there going to be other legal challenges involving discrimination that might be tied to the alleged reportings? >> i think now because there is concrete evidence and behavior. we look at the elgin baylor lawsuit and the way he was discriminated against. this owner had to pay $5 million in attorneys fees for the cost the way he handled litigation when it was found he didn't want to rent to blacks because they smell, didn't want to rent to koreans in korea town. now we look at it, it's almost looks like it's finally come to the surface. we can't and shouldn't ignore it as a country. >> there are cases that might be dismissed and reopened may be connected to him?

>> it gives evidence to the people who zpnt' file lawsuits on their lawsuits failed because of lack of evidence. this piece of evidence and what else it's going to uncover is going to be good fodder for people to say he was race i or acted in a way that was discriminatory. here's concrete evidence. >> we can't confirm the authentici authenticity. you hear from kareem abdul jabbar and you heard the conversation where you said i worked for mr. sterling for three months, i know the man, i know his voice and that sure sounds like his voice. >> it it was not my voice i would come out the next moment i could get on camera and say that's not me. the fact he didn't speaks volumes. >> it was very telling in your view he's disappeared, not at the game, not denying any participation in these recordings, nothing. >> if he does not have a perfect explanation for this, you needs to make a decision to move away from the nba and not try to salvage something that he can't

deal with in today's society. >> as it pertains to the ownership, he is an owner of an nba team, whether the nba players association has a strong point of view on this or whether it's the new commissioner, mr. silver, who is going to take some action on this, because he is an owner can heu.s. removed because he made the insulting remarks? what leverage do any of the organizations or entities have? >> the lawyers who interpret the contract that exists between the nba and the owners, has certain provisions in it that allow the nib to look at the way you act as an owner. i would imagine this type of behavior is going to shed such poor light on the nba that i think they're going to use that and say you cannot do to our organization by acting the way you're in public, quasi-public behavior because you're putting dirt on the nba >> fascinating case and we know it's just the beginning as more

information trickles out. mark o'meara thank you for being here. >> great to be here. coming up, a sports panel talking about the possible effects of this controversy on the sport, the nba, the team in the middle of a playoff battle, talking about the l.a. clippers plus the league and its players will now also have to deal with the fallout. dear sun, you created light. you are loved. celebrated. but things have changed since you got into this business. at philips, we're creating led light that people can color... adjust... even make beautiful sunsets.

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and ask about all the ways you could save. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? all right, the nba is promising swift action and due process in investigating racist comments allegedly made by l.a. clippers owner donald sterling. tmz first posted the recording reportedly made between sterling and his girlfriend, the couple is allegedly argue being sterling's girlfriend's association with african-americans. notably this instagram photo from tmz sports showing her with nba hall of famer imaginic johnson.

okay so the fallout from this is far reaching. let's get more now cnn. 's dan simon by phone in oakland where the clippers are battling the golden state warriors in their fourth playoff game and want sports contributor terrance moore is contributing in the studio and cnn commentator and espn senior writer elsby granderson joins us. terrance, you first. we have not heard anything from mr. sterling. >> exactly. >> that silence really speaks volumes. why wouldn't the owner come out at this jhuuncture or how important would it be?

>> he's not coming out because he's guilty. if you're not guilty you come out and say i'm not guilty instead of assuming that rich little is still out there doing impersonations of donald sterling. this is donald sterling actually doing this. his only other choice which is not in donald sterling's personality is to pull a jimmy swagert, i've sinned, i blew it. >> but you're a big businessman, a team owner. and we still don't know whether this tape is authentic, but if indeed that is him, there are people who say i recognize your voice. we talked to karim earlier. >> yes. it's obvious. >> why wouldn't you as the team owner knowing your team is in the playoffs, fourth game, had been doing well and say i got to own these words, it was wrong, et cetera, and i'm wishing the best for my team or something? >> well, i'll tell you, fred and again that is his voice on there p everybody says it's his voice. when you've got that sort of

mentality, then you take a hard line approach until you're dead basically. richard nix on and the coverup and the breakup of the water gen dwaet type thing. until he is dead, donald sterling is going to say that hey, this wasn't me, and if it comes out it is him, i didn't mean to say it that way. he'll continue to alibi right down to the end because that is his personality. >> or l.z., is this donald sterling trying to come up with an exit strategy in we're not hearing from him, not seeing him because now he's trying to figure out all right, how do i gracefully let go of the team? >> you know, i don't know if he's away trying to figure out a plan to get out of this but what i will tell you is the media and americans in general have a short attention span. perhaps what he's hoping will happen is we sort of look at another shiny object. i got to tell you, having been observe ant about coaches i

don't think that's a bad strategy. we have a short attention span. we have a tendency to be really focused in on one person, then something else happens and our attention travels elsewhere. i don't know if that's his conscious strategy but i will tell you i would not be surprised if he waits this out and nothing more besides a fine comes of this. >> and dan simon at the oracle arena, the l.a. clippers in the middle of their game right now with the golden state warriors. we understand some of the players wearing their shirts inside-out. is that the extent of a statement? was that a statement coming from these players that they are silently trying to say something? >> reporter: absolutely. everybody was uttering how the team would react and that's exactly what they did, took off their team jackets, placed them in the middle of the floor and revealed their practice shirts inside-out, with the logo facing inwa

inward, and i can tell you right now, the clippers down 18 points here in the second quarter, they're playing a little flat. it makes you wonder whether or not this whole controversy, everything swirling around is affecting the performance of the team. right now they're not playing too well. >> terrance, weigh in on that. it's got to impact the psyche of the player. >> what's interesting in the first quarter they were down by 20 points. doc rivers was interviewed and said this controversy had nothing to do with them playing flat, but this is the same doc rivers who said before the game in a press conference before the game that he figured this would have some effect on the team. the doc rivers before the game was correct. this is affecting the team. >> how could it not? >> there's no question. it would have been worse if donald sterling was at the game. he's always at clippers game. >> even away games? >> he was told to stay away from this game here. if he was there at this game, if

it you think they're playing badly now, it would be even worse. >> and l.z., weigh in on this. clearly it's a distraction. these are elite professionals, they know how to play under pressure. this is different. your boss is saying essentially you're okay by me if you're making me money, but i wouldn't invite to you my home. i don't want my family members, my loved ones associating with you. you really are not my equal. >> this is not breaking news, fred. this man has evolved, documented history of discrimination and so while i understand that the players may be upset at this particular time and doc rivers may be upset about the recent allegations or discoveries, if. you will, the truth is that many of those players arrived there with the understanding that this is who this person is, with the understanding that he has been sued and had to pay out a lawsuit -- >> that doesn't make a blow any less hurtful.

why does this still sting, even though there's precedence and history? >> it's not just -- i mean, i think what we failed to realize it's not just about the players. i know that we can talk about whether or not they should be protesting and jerseys inside-out and we can have that conversation but the truth of the matter is everyone who is attached to this organization, everyone who worked for the organization on a sponsorship level and let us not forget about the naacp positioning themselves to give him a lifetime achievement award, we are all -- >> they rescinded it. >> they did but not before they were going to go forward with it and this is after they already knew about his racist behavior. >> yes. >> my point is that, i do want to focus in on at players but i want to expand this. his braver, attitudes towards y minorities is not breaking news. now we have our feet brought to the fire when we had an opportunity to deal with it before with the lawsuits. >> darren, last word? >> l.z. is exactly right.

i'm going to extend something he just said. the reason this is a distraction kra contrary to popular belief is not because of what the players said, it's a distraction, people like you and i are constantly asking them about that, that's creating the distraction for them out there on the court. they've got to deal with this, talk about this, as far as dealing with donald sterling, we knew what he was. walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it's a duck. he's been quacking since 1981 when he first bought the clippers. this is no breaking news, no offense to cnn, but what it is, is just the distraction around the players is getting to them, which is what we're seeing right there on the court as we speak. >> all right, terrance moore, l.z. granderson, and dan simon also to all of you gentlemen, thanks so much. it's a compelling conversation, it's shocking. i think it's still resonating in so many different ways no matter how many times you try to digest the conversation, i think it

still sticks a lot of people. we'll hear from magic johnson, speaking about the tape controversy and he says it point blank. he wants donald sterling out. peoi go to angie's listt for all kinds of reasons. to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians. the service providers that i've found on angie's list actually have blown me away. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

more now on the response to those alleged racist comments from l.a. clippers owner don sterling. nba hall of famer magic johnson

says sterling must go. in a phone recording we allegedly hear sterling urging his girlfriend not to be seen in public with black people, and criticizing her for picture she took with magic johnson. this is that picture from tmz sports. all of this could threaten sterling's future as an owner perhaps. here is magic johnson talking today on espn. >> i talked to doc rivers yesterday and i wanted him to understand this. this is not his fight or the clipper players' fight. this is our fight. focus how do we win game four today and what's really crazy, doug, i've been in a similar situation when i was a rookie, we played your 76ers and i'm glad he was hurt.

because doug to shoot the lights out. spencer haywood, our sixth man, got suspended in game one. we kicked him off the team. >> yes. >> we had to deal with that and still find a way to beat your sixers. >> right. >> then karim gets hurt in game five and find a way to win again. we understood our sanctuary with the basketball court. chris, get your guys ready to play game four. when you hit that court you don't worry what's going on at home, what people have said about donald sterling. all you want to do is focus in on the game. as a matter of fact it's going to be good for the clipper players that hit the floor today. >> tifinally, magic, it's not going away any time soon and new recordings are coming out as we speak. >> yes. >> therefore, since your name was brought in by the man believed to be donald sterling in those recordings what do you plan to do? how do you plan to handle this going forward?

>> it's really not me. it's now adam silver and the owners of the league. i'm going to say what i've been saying all along, he has to give up the team. if he doesn't like african-americans and you're in a league over 70% african-american. >> ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding! >> magic, you know him. do you honestly believe he will give up the team as you suggest? >> when you've got the president of the united states saying that this is bad, you got all the fans around the country different races of people saying it's bad, it's time for him to exit. i don't know if he will. he's used to fighting every battle. >> he's gotten away with it. >> i agree with you but you also know this is probably the most stubborn owner in any sport and somebody who loves going into courtrooms and fighting battles. he paid mike dunleavy and elgin baylor. he fought to not pay those guys

even though he had a contract with them. don't you think knowing him the last 35 years and being in this city he'll fight to the death to keep this team? >> he probably will and that's who he's been. the fans will have a say so in the clipper fans will have a big say-so if he does come back. >> magic johnson on espn today, we thought it was extraordinary his comments earl whier today we had to give it another run. yesterday he was very khan bit in his tweets even more so today live on television earlier. next a cnn hero helping kids overcome their grieve. >> mick everling started not impossible labs for one simple reason. >> i can't stand the concept of no. >> reporter: where they identify a need, it will crowd source affordable solution gathering a team to create or adoopt a technology. one of their first projects help paralyzed graffiti artists tempt

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we're following a developing weather story potentially dangerous. millions of people in several central states are under a threat from a severe weather outbreak right now, that includes the possibility of tornadoes. jennifer gray is here in the cnn severe weather center with much more, so jennifer, we're also noticing it in the south, some real changes along the way. >> yes, this stretches all the way up through portions of south dakota, all the way down to georgia. so this covers a large portion of the country, watching severe thunderstorm warnings, tornado warnings throughout the day for today. look at the long line of showers and storms stretching across the country. if we zoom in a little bit you can see the severe thunderstorm warnings and looks like a new tornado warning has just popped up just to the south of caesar rapids. these are moving very quickly, moving at about 55 miles per

hour, producing very heavy rain and very large hail and so if you are in some of the areas where the severe thunderstorm warnings are and the tornado warnings, get into a small interior room in your home and stay there until the threat is over. we've been showing you storms up north but this is the main threat as we go through the late evening hours into the overnight hours, stretches anywhere from texarkana to little rock and points in between. this area could be very dangerous as we go through the overnight hours. the tornado watch that is over portions of arkansas right now, storm predictions center labeled as a particularly dangerous situation where we could see very large tornadoes and they could live a long time. this is labeled as a high risk, little rock is included for the severe threat, large tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail. it's not every day the storm prediction center puts a level of high risk on the map. it's something you don't see often and something you should

take seriously. >> thank you. that's going to do it for me. much more come up straight ahead in "the newsroom." don lemon is coming up next. i know you've got lots. you've got the storms from the weather storm and stormy situation moving the nba. i know that's going to dominate your discussions tonight as well. >> yes, everybody's talking about this fred. >> it's extraordinary. >> it's extraordinary and unfathomable to many that someone would actually say this. we know there are people who are feeling this but then to say that to a woman who is allegedly, say that to a woman who is dating who happens to be a minority as well, it's just mind-blowing. >> that's what's interesting, it's extraordinary, it's surprising but then, in some circles in some ways it's not surprising and we've heard through our conversations today in some ways it may be a microcosm of what we're dealing with.

you heard the president addressing it overseas, underscored race problems has not gone away, it's still very much engrained in the tapestry of america and that's what's still very shameful and sad. >> absolutely. you're absolutely right. we're going to get through all of this, fred. thank you very much. have a great evening. top of the hour, don lemon here. you're in "cnn newsroom." this story fred and i have been talking about originates in the sports world, the world of professional bab butmoving far world. recorded racest remarks attributed to the billionaire owner of the l.a. clippers. the man's name is donaldsteri . sterling. those alleged comments has everyone talking from casual fans to the president of the united states. he's married but also apparently had a girlfriend named v.stiviano. she supposedly made the recording, features a man telling her to stop posting