Donald Sterling sues V. Stiviano, TMZ over audio leak

Donald Sterling is making noise in courtrooms these days.

Last week a report said he was filing for a divorce from wife Shelly, to whom he was married for nearly 60 years. On Monday TMZ shared that Sterling is suing them and V. Stiviano over the audio containing his racist comments that led to supreme backlash resulting in him being pushed out as owner of the Los Angeles Clippers.

The audio recording — which was posted by TMZ on April 25, 2014 — is of a private conversation between Sterling and Stiviano, his girlfriend at the time. Sterling is heard speaking negatively about black people and telling Stiviano not to bring black people to Clippers games.

Sterling alleges that the audio recordings were manipulated and that they violated his privacy rights. He also alleges that the release of the audio caused damages “on a scale of unparalleled and unprecedented magnitude.”

That point cannot really be debated. Sterling received unparalleled backlash and was essentially pushed out of the NBA as an owner.

Even though Sterling’s comments were despicable, there is something to be said about a person being recorded in their private home if the recordings were not consensual, edited, and then later used to bring someone down. Mark Cuban made that point in comments about the Sterling matter, and he had some fair points that Sterling is raising in court.