. this is "nightline." tonight, caught on tape? >> it bothers me a hot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people. >> the facout over the shocking racist comments allegedly made by one of the richest men in beverly hills, the l.a. clippers owner, to his alleged ex-mistress. >> you can sleep with them, you can bring them in, whatever you want. the little i ask you is not to promote it on that, and not to bring them to my games. >> now these ugly words are causing outrage from coast to coast. everyone from president obama to lebron james commenting on the scandal as another team stages a silent protest. >> doesn't matter if you're black, white, hispanic, whatever the case may be. we can't have that a part of our game.

plus, killer tornados. millions of americans on the alert right now. >> get in the car! >> a deadly storm causing havoc across the country. at least 23 dead so far. our extreme weather team is on the scene. and the mystery woman taking george clooney off the market. the world's most eligible bachelor no more. first, the "night line 5" which begins right now. >> wait. zant zantac's different. rushing relief in as little as 30 minutes. no pill relieves heartburn faster. cascade platinum. >> so who's number one? real be back in just 60 seconds.

good evening and thanks for joining us. tonight a nation trans fixed by controversy. the tale of the tape. one of hollywood's richest moguls, the owner of the l.a. clippers, purportedly caught making racist comments during a conversation with his alleged ex-mistress. now even president obama is weighing in. is this scandal the revenge of a former flame or something more sinister? here's abc's ryan smith. >> yeah, it bothers me a lot if you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people. >> reporter: today those ugly words have gone viral. donald sterling, the married l.a. clippers owner and real estate mogul worth an estimated $1.9 billion, allegedly spoke them to his alleged former mistress v. stiviano earlier

this month after she posted a photo of herself and hall of famer earvin "magic" johnson on instagram. >> don't put them on instagram so the world has to see, so they have to call me. and don't bring them into my games. okay? you can sleep with them. 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 game. >> reporter: on saturday tmz and deadspin posted the recording that rocked the country. >> do you know that you have a whole team that's black that plays for you? >> do i know? i support them and give them food. and clothes. and cars. and houses. >> reporter: stiviano denies releasing the tapes. yet we know she's the defendant in a civil suit brought by sterling's wife. rochelle sterling alleges that her husband used community property to buy stiviano a ferrari and two bentleys. sterling also allegedly gave stiviano a $1.8 million apartment. some have interpreted the conversation as leading, with her prompting sterling's answers.

>> but shouldn't we take a stand for what's wrong and be the change and the difference -- >> i don't want to change the culture because i can't. it's too big. >> but you can change yourself. >> can we talk to you for just a quick second? >> reporter: today tmz claims stiviano has 100 hours of sterling recordings. she had no comment outside her home today as she dashed away from cameras. his wife, who he's been married to for over 50 years, released a statement sunday saying, "our family is devastated by the racist comments made by my estranged husband." the clippers say they haven't verified whether the recording is real, but the outrage has been swift and widespread. with ten sponsors including carmax and virgin america today dropping their sponsorship of the clippers. it seems sterling, who bought the clippers in 1981 for $12 million -- >> over the long-term will be enormously valuable. >> reporter: -- has been sued by the justice department for racial discrimination over his

alleged refusal to rent apartments to minorities. the case was settled for $2.7 million, the biggest ever obtained by the justice department in a housing discrimination case. in court documents a former employee is quoted as saying, "when we went into the building, he, sterling, said that blacks smelled and blacks stunk and he wanted them out of his buildings." sterling was also sued by clippers former general manager and nba legend elgin baylor, who accused sterling of building a franchise with a "vision of a southern plantation type structure" and having a "pervasive and ongoing racist attitude." the jury ruled in sterling's favor. >> elgin baylor a couple years ago filed suit against him. does this now lend credence to what elgin baylor said a few years ago? >> yeah. i think we're looking at sort of this plantation mentality, this idea on those tapes that you know, i own this team, i give these guys jobs, i pay them, i give them houses, i give them cars, but i'm an owner. and so he's sort of created this class of people. he's okay to smugly sit on the

sidelines and look at the people that he collectively owns, but he doesn't really want to associate with them and he doesn't want the people that he knows or is intimate with to be associated with african-american people. >> reporter: the reaction has been overwhelming against sterling. from former nba greats like magic johnson. >> he's got to give up the team. if he doesn't like african-americans and you're in a league that's over 70% african-american -- >> ding, ding -- >> reporter: and charles barkley called for the nba commissioner to suspend him on tnt's halftime report. >> you can't have this guy making statements like that. he has to suspend him and fine him immediately. we cannot have an nba owner discriminating against a league that -- we're a black league. >> reporter: lebron james, the nba's biggest star, made his feelings crystal clear before saturday's playoff game. >> it doesn't matter if you're black, white, hispanic or whatever the case may be, we can't have that a part of our game and we don't want donald sterling's comments to overshadow what this game means

to everyone, including the fans. >> reporter: even president obama weighed in. >> when ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don't really have to do anything. you just let them talk. >> reporter: as for the clippers, a silent protest. yesterday afternoon players removing their warm-up jackets and wearing their shooting shirts inside out to hide the clippers' logo. also wearing black wrist bands. >> i think fans are stunned. right? clipper fans are thinking this is our first year that we can be relevant. they've got a chance to go to the championship. and now they have to deal with this cloud of controversy. >> reporter: as a sign of solidarity the miami heat turned their warm-ups inside out before their game tonight versus the charlotte bobcats. and sterling's own head coach, doc rivers, said earlier today that he believed that's sterling's voice on the tapes and publicly blasted his comments. >> yeah, i believe he said those things. i can't tell you how upset i am, our players are. >> reporter: but nba

commissioner adam silver said he wasn't ready to punish sterling just yet. >> all members of the nba family should be afforded due process and a fair opportunity to present their side of any controversy. which is why i'm not yet prepared to discuss any potential sanctions against donald sterling. >> reporter: the league added in a statement today that "the nba will make an announcement tuesday about its investigation of the los angeles clippers' owner donald sterling." the clippers' president defended his embattled owner saying, "mr. sterling is emphatic that what is reflected on that recording is not consistent with nor does it reflect his views, beliefs, or feelings. he feels terrible that such sentiments are being attributed to him." wherever the truth lies, these events put the billionaire nba owners club in a highly unenviable position. >> he's an owner who appears from all indications to be a bigot. i see a long suspension, an indefinite suspension for donald

sterling, and somehow the other owners, the other 29 owners, who are in this very exclusive club, will find a way to get rid of him and say this is bad, you are bad for business if nothing else. >> reporter: i'm ryan smith for "nightline" in los angeles. up next for us -- americans braving a second night of deadly storms. our extreme weather team has the latest.

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tonight, deadly tornadoes cut a terrifying path across

parts of the southeastern u.s. several governors declaring states of emergency after the first brutal onslaught. and now with at least 23 dead fears that the toll will continue to climb as millions of americans brave another night of horror. abc's alex perez is on the ground. >> it's going that way. >> reporter: tonight in mississippi and alabama millions of americans are hunkering down as the season's first massive tornado outbreak continues to terrorize communities across the south and midwest. >> it's moving right over us right now. >> reporter: these are the latest images from the heart of the storm tonight, where a fresh wave of tornadoes unleashed untold destruction and left at least six more people dead. in the last 36 hours the biggest tornado outbreak of the year, at least 40 twisters across several states, hit hardest, arkansas. >> don't stop. >> reporter: the storms came up

suddenly this weekend. rescue crews have been scrambling through the dark of night, searching through 40 miles of rubble for survivors of the storm that has destroyed dozens of communities. so far at least 23 people are dead, including two children. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: the first tornado touched down late last night in arkansas, leaving a trail of devastation half a mile wide. this bird's eye view captures the violent twister's path as it sliced through suburban communities outside little rock. >> as i was driving back, i saw nothing but black. it was huge. >> reporter: at the center of the storm the suburban touchb vilonia where residents are sharing harrowing stories of survival. this dramatic video shows a rescue in progress. one woman working to rescue her elderly parents from the rubble. >> here comes your mom. >> reporter: they emerge shaken but okay. judy garrett and her husband robert escaped to their tornado

safe room as a storm approached. 15 minutes later they tried to get out. >> we opened the door, and we couldn't get out. >> reporter: they were blocked in by debris. they emerged to find their home and entire neighborhood flattened. >> all i could see was a truck and a boat and the sky. there should have been a roof there. >> reporter: they lost everything but the clothes on their backs. >> we've got my purse and our medicine, our medicine's in the bag. >> you took that into the safe room with you. >> that was it. >> that's all we've got. >> reporter: from nebraska to louisiana entire neighborhoods are swept away in a path of destruction. a tornado in baxter springs, kansas cut a five-mile trail of devastation all the way to oklahoma. an ef2, 150 yards wide, with wind speeds up to 135 miles per hour. >> it's crazy. i don't see how anybody could live through that. >> reporter: in mayflower, arkansas the storm tossed around

semis like toys. >> this is the driveway right here. >> that's the garage. >> reporter: today in vilonia many families found themselves sorting through the rubble of what was once their homes. >> walked out, saw the funnel cloud. we were all heading for the closet. we just held hands, and then we saw the whole back of the house go. we're blessed. we're blessed. >> reporter: the mulligan family feels lucky to be alive. >> we're blessed to be standing here. >> we definitely didn't think we were going to make it. i just remember hearing my dad yell that please god, just save my family. >> and he did. >> he did. >> she just had senior night. and everything she had from it and all her trophies over the years are all in there. >> what's that? >> that's one of her medals from her softball. >> reporter: the mulligans, like so many of their neighbors, will

have to rebuild their lives from scratch. these photos were taken right after the twister hit. alexis kaufman tells us the only thing left of her home was the closet her family was hiding in and a wall of crosses. another haunting image shows how a twister's destruction strikes with random cruelty. one side of the street leveled. the other untouched. for residents here the destruction is surreal. >> people's homes turned upside down. their lives turned upside down. on a peaceful sunday suddenly everything changes. >> while the national weather service has not been able to measure the strength of this tornado outbreak, arkansas governor mike beebe says he has never seen a storm like this before. >> the severity of this in terms of the power of the tornado may be more significant than any of them i've seen. and the loss of life apparently is the highest that we've had.

>> reporter: tonight across the south communities are hoping the storm spares them the destruction it left behind in vilonia, a town that was still recovering from a twister that struck almost three years ago to the today. >> three years and two days to the day you guys were dealing with the same problem, another tornado. >> yes, sir. and it took almost the same path. if you took the path of the tornado in 2011 and started right beside it, that's exactly where this tornado came. >> reporter: but even amidst the wreckage residents here are already talking about rebuilding. >> you look around, you see all of this destruction. will you ever rebuild here? will they ever rebuild here? >> you know, vilonia's a great community -- this didn't change the community. it may have changed the landscape. it may have taken some houses away. but we're still the community of vilonia. we'll come back strong. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm

alex perez in vilonia, arkansas. >> be sure to tune in to "good morning america" tomorrow for a full report. up next, george clooney famously said he'd never marry again, until a mystery woman changed his mind. who is she? you've reached the age where you know how things work. this is the age of knowing what needs to be done. so why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long- term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action.

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could it be? america's heartthrob and serial monogamist george clooney is engaged? the news has everyone asking who is she and how did she snag the perennial bachelor? clooney has a dating record as colorful as his acting career. but he may have met his match. here's abc's paula farris. >> reporter: tonight the world is atwitter. the famously tenacious bachelor george clooney is taken. the two-time sexiest man alive is betting big on love and marriage. even though he promised barbara walters -- >> no, i'm never going to get married again because -- because i wasn't very good at it. >> reporter: the mystery woman now engaged to clooney is amal

alamuddin, a beirut-born human rights activist and lawyer and a star in her own right. clooney may have two oscars, but alamuddin speaks three languages -- english, french, and arabic. in recent years clooney opted for a string of high-profile relationships. his famous reticence about dating age-appropriate women the butt of a joke at this year's golden globes. >> "gravity" is nominated for best film. [ applause ] >> it's the story of how george clooney would rather float away into space and die than spend one more minute with a woman his own age. >> reporter: but alamuddin is 36 and educated at oxford and nyu. she once clerked for sonya sotomayor before she became a supreme court justice. >> she not only is beautiful, of course, but she has her own career. she's very well educated. george admires all of that. and they seem to be on the same level. >> reporter: the couple has reportedly been dating since last fall, pictured here

together in london in october. >> what we do know about the proposal is that the ring, according to people who have seen it, is big and very beautiful. >> reporter: both at the top of their game, and experts say that shared success could spell long-term happiness. >> how can similar success resumes and backgrounds help a relationship? >> they're going to have the same values. and that's a very valuable thing that they both share. >> reporter: and they have plenty in common. a shared passion for humanitarian work and a family background. clooney's dad a tv anchor. amal's mother, a journalist too. the world's most eligible bachelor no longer running from the altar. for "nightline" i'm paula farris in new york. >> thanks for watching abc news. tune in to "world news now" coming up soon for the latest of course on the violent storms and "gma" tomorrow will have a full report from abc's extreme weather team. as always, we're online at abcnews.com, and we'll see you right back here tomorrow night. good night, america. have a good one.

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