12406: Hoop Dream.

Adweek reported on the NBA MLK commercial from new NBA AOR Translation. For an MLK advertisement, it’s okay—but not significantly different or better than the standard MLK-Black History Month fare, including last year’s Dream Big commercial starring Miami Heat Forward-Center Chris Bosh. Plus, it’s odd to see clips featuring NBA legend Michael Jordan in this context, as he’s always been neutral on political issues involving equality and civil rights. Of course, it doesn’t help that the progress depicted in the spot is tainted by modern-day cultural cluelessness from Donald Sterling, Bruce Levenson and Danny Ferry. Now, coming up with an MLK-BHM concept incorporating those Three Stooges would demonstrate breakthrough thinking.

Ad of the Day: NBA Celebrates Its History With Audio of Dr. King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech

Spot is artful and inspiring, but will have its critics

By Andrew McMains

In its first work for the NBA, new lead creative agency Translation uses the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words to powerful effect.

Excerpts from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech serve as the backdrop for images of inclusiveness, as the league celebrates its history of firsts when it comes to breaking down racial and other barriers. Those images begin with Charlie Cooper, the first black NBA player, and end with a “We Are One” sign—a reference to how fans and players responded to racist remarks from former Clippers owner Donald Sterling last year.

In between are still photos and video of the likes of Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Yao Ming and Jason Collins, the first openly gay NBA player.

The ad breaks online today and will extend to TV during the NBA’s slate of games on Monday—Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It’s part of a broader campaign that continues into Black History Month in February and features a mentorship program for students; video vignettes about why Charlotte Hornets forward Marvin Williams is passionate about African American history; and an NBA Inside Stuff piece about a Tuskegee Airman who was the grandfather of Orlando Magic forward Tobias Harris.

So, kudos to the league for going well beyond just creating an ad.

That said, while many will find the ad artful and inspiring, don’t expect it to be universally loved. Any commercial use of King’s words—however well intentioned and well timed—is bound to draw criticism. Telecommunications company Alcatel learned this hard lesson in 2001, when it unveiled an ad from Arnold that depicted King making his famous 1963 speech but without the crowd of 250,000 that had amassed to hear it. The brand message was, “Before you can inspire, before you can touch, you must first connect.” Critics, however, recoiled at the blending of history and commerce.

By contrast, the NBA ad—while obviously designed, at least in part, to sell more tickets—feels commemorative and will run on TV for just five weeks. The league obviously got approval from King’s estate to use the audio. And it’s backing up the message of the ad with programs and actions to help the black community.

Nevertheless, some will still find fault with any commercial use of King. Even an ad as graceful as this one.

12171: Clippers Vanilla TV Spot.

The new White advertising agency for the Los Angeles Clippers—RPA—unveiled its first TV commercial sporting the tagline, “Be Relentless.” Okey-doke. It’s the standard sports anthem message, featuring standard sports filmmaking. Why is advertising for local professional sports teams so tired and predictable? Seems like the Clippers have more uniqueness to offer than this, especially given the kind of spots Chris Paul and Blake Griffin have delivered for other advertisers. The suggestion to hire a minority AOR was ignored, yet what does RPA really bring to the table? The place isn’t even headquartered in Los Angeles. While the commercial is professionally executed, it presents a vanilla and white-bread concept. And in the end, being relentless is pointless if the squad can’t beat the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs.

12140: Everybody Up In NBA.

Advertising Age reported on fresh marketing and advertising being developed for the NBA under recently-hired CMO Pam El. A new campaign features the tagline, “Everybody Up.” Fairly certain everybody does not include Donald Sterling, Bruce Levenson or Danny Ferry.

The NBA’s Marketing Will Get More Aggressive Under New CMO

A New Campaign Is Supported by Broad-Based Media Buy

By E.J. Schultz

The National Basketball Association, which recently inked a lucrative media rights deal, will increase its marketing budget as it looks to lure more casual fans, according to the league’s new chief marketing officer.

Some of the new spending will back the league’s season-long campaign, which debuts Saturday and will run on a broader set of networks than in years past, said CMO Pam El, who joined the NBA in August after stints at insurance companies State Farm and Nationwide. “We are going to be much more aggressive with our marketing. We want to go after a larger fan base,” she said in an interview.

While she declined to reveal spending figures, she said the new campaign, called “Everybody Up,” will run on news and entertainment networks such as BET, CNN, TBS and VH1 “just to name a few.”

The first ad of the campaign is called “Roll Call” and will first air on Saturday during the Miami Heat vs. Cleveland Cavaliers preseason game that will be played in Rio de Janeiro and air on ESPNews. The ad is by Goodby Silverstein & Partners and features narration by hip hop artist Common.

Previously, the league had mostly confined its early-season campaign to ESPN and TNT, which both carry NBA games, Ms. El said. The league will still air ads on the two networks, but “we are going to branch outside of that media to reach not only the avid fan, but also our casual fan,” she said.

In 2013, the NBA spent $93.6 million on measured media, a figure that includes ads promoting the NBA TV cable channel, as well as plugging the WNBA, according to Kantar Media.

Ms. El’s hiring represents the first time the league has a CMO title since the 1990s. More recently, the league’s top marketing position was filled by Jamie Gallo, who held the title of exec VP-marketing, before he left the NBA in January. “The fact that the league has decided to hire a CMO is a sign of how much more aggressive we want to become as a marketing entity,” Ms. El said.

The league will have plenty of money to spend after its new media rights deal kicks in beginning in the 2016-2017 season. The pact with Walt Disney Co. (ESPN and ABC) and Turner Broadcasting System (TNT) more than doubles the NBA’s current deal and is worth $24 billion over nine years, according to various media reports.

Some analysts have speculated that TV viewers could eventually cover some of the costs through higher cable bills. So it makes sense for the league to try and broaden its fan base via new marketing, said D.J. Koeller, an associate VP at Intersport, a Chicago-based sports and entertainment marketing company.

It’s critical for the NBA to bring the casual fans into the fold “because eventually they may be the ones footing the bill,” Mr. Koeller said. “You want to make sure that everybody has embraced the product if ultimately there is going to be a cost associated with it.”

The “Roll Call” ad includes footage of fans, players, coaches and cheerleaders, while weaving in scenes from foreign markets such as London, China and Mexico City.

“The idea of this spot is that teams win championships, individuals don’t,” Ms. El said. “We are proposing that the team is a combination of the players and the coaches, but also the staff and employees and the fans and the families—and that all of those folks actually contribute to the NBA experience.” The international flavor is meant to emphasize that the “global NBA community is much broader than just the 30 teams here in the U.S. (and Canada),” she added.

A Spanish-language ad by Bromley is in development.

The campaign comes as the NBA is in the early stages of a creative agency review, as Ad Age recently reported. Ms. El declined to comment on the process other than to say Goodby has “done a tremendous job” with the new campaign.

Media planning and buying for the new campaign was handled by Media Storm, which is part of the Water Cooler Group network that is co-led by former Mindshare exec Antony Young. The NBA, which had previously handled media internally, began working with the network last year during the NBA Finals, according to a spokesman.

12137: Slam-Dunking Stereotypes.

From Italy, this campaign promoting an Italian basketball club scores plenty of racist stereotypes. Were Donald Sterling, Bruce Levenson and Danny Ferry involved?

From Ads of the World.

12044: Another NBA Sterling Performance.

From USA TODAY…

Bruce Levenson will sell Atlanta Hawks after releasing racist e-mail

By Adi Joseph, USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta Hawks controlling owner Bruce Levenson has self-reported to the NBA that he sent a racist e-mail in August 2012 and will sell his interest in the team.

Levenson reported the e-mail to the NBA in July, almost two years after it was sent but while the league was deep in litigation over the now-completed sale of the Los Angeles Clippers. The investigation was ongoing when Levenson decided to leave the team.

The e-mail, to Hawks President Danny Ferry, details Levenson’s belief that the Hawks’ fan base was too heavily African-American. (Scroll down for full text of the e-mail.)

“I wrote an e-mail two years ago that was inappropriate and offensive,” Levenson said in a Hawks news release Sunday morning. “I trivialized our fans by making clichéd assumptions about their interests (i.e., hip hop vs. country, white vs. black cheerleaders, etc.) and by stereotyping their perceptions of one another (i.e., that white fans might be afraid of our black fans). By focusing on race, I also sent the unintentional and hurtful message that our white fans are more valuable than our black fans.”

Levenson was one of the strongest critics among owners of Donald Sterling, the Clippers owner who was recorded making racist comments and quickly banned for life from the league.

Levenson is stepping down, effective immediately. Hawks CEO Steve Koonin, who joined the team in April after leading Turner Entertainment, will take over team operations.

The NBA will look for a buyer now. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer set a high bar in purchasing the Clippers for $2 billion from the Sterling family, but the Hawks likely won’t draw that level of interest.

“Prior to the completion of the investigation, Mr. Levenson notified me last evening that he had decided to sell his controlling interest in the Atlanta Hawks,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in an NBA news release. “As Mr. Levenson acknowledged, the views he expressed are entirely unacceptable and are in stark contrast to the core principles of the National Basketball Association. He shared with me how truly remorseful he is for using those hurtful words and how apologetic he is to the entire NBA family — fans, players, team employees, business partners and fellow team owners — for having diverted attention away from our game.”

Levenson has been the Hawks’ governor and controlling owner since 2004.

FULL TEXT OF THE E-MAIL (via the Hawks):

From: Bruce Levenson

Sent: 8/25/2012 11:47:02 PM

Subject: Re: Business/Game ops

1. from day one i have been impressed with the friendliness and professionalism of the arena staff—food vendors, ushers, ticket takers, etc. in our early years when i would bring folks from dc they were blown away by the contrast between abe pollin’s arena and philips. some of this is attributable to southern hospital and manners but bob and his staff do a good job of training. To this day, I can not get the ushers to call me Bruce yet they insist on me calling them by their first names.

2. the non-premium area food is better than most arenas, though that is not saying much. i think there is room for improvement and creativity. Levy is our food vendor so we don’t have much control but they have been good partners. i have wished we had some inconic offereing like boog’s barbeque at the baseball stadium in balt.

3. our new restaurant, red, just opened so too early for me to give you my thoughts.

4. Regarding game ops, i need to start with some background. for the first couple of years we owned the team, i didn’t much focus on game ops. then one day a light bulb went off. when digging into why our season ticket base is so small, i was told it is because we can’t get 35-55 white males and corporations to buy season tixs and they are the primary demo for season tickets around the league. when i pushed further, folks generally shrugged their shoulders. then i start looking around our arena during games and notice the following:

• it’s 70 pct black

• the cheerleaders are black

• the music is hip hop

• at the bars it’s 90 pct black

• there are few fathers and sons at the games

• we are doing after game concerts to attract more fans and the concerts are either hip hop or gospel.

Then i start looking around at other arenas. It is completely different. Even DC with its affluent black community never has more than 15 pct black audience.

Before we bought the hawks and for those couple years immediately after in an effort to make the arena look full (at the nba’s urging) thousands and thousands of tickets were being giving away, predominantly in the black community, adding to the overwhelming black audience.

My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a signficant season ticket base. Please dont get me wrong. There was nothing threatening going on in the arean back then. i never felt uncomfortable, but i think southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority. On fan sites i would read comments about how dangerous it is around philips yet in our 9 years, i don’t know of a mugging or even a pick pocket incident. This was just racist garbage. When I hear some people saying the arena is in the wrong place I think it is code for there are too many blacks at the games.

I have been open with our executive team about these concerns. I have told them I want some white cheerleaders and while i don’t care what the color of the artist is, i want the music to be music familiar to a 40 year old white guy if that’s our season tixs demo. i have also balked when every fan picked out of crowd to shoot shots in some time out contest is black. I have even bitched that the kiss cam is too black.

Gradually things have changed. My unscientific guess is that our crowd is 40 pct black now, still four to five times all other teams. And my further guess is that 40 pct still feels like 70 pet to some whites at our games. Our bars are still overwhelmingly black.

This is obviously a sensitive topic, but sadly i think it is far and way the number one reason our season ticket base is so low.

And many of our black fans don’t have the spendable income which explains why our f&b and merchandise sales are so low. At all white thrasher games sales were nearly triple what they are at hawks games (the extra intermission explains some of that but not all).

Regardless of what time a game starts, we have the latest arriving crowd in the league. It often looks and sounds empty when the team takes the floor.

In the past two years, we have created a section of rowdy college students that has been a big plus. And we do a lot of very clever stuff during time outs to entertain the crowd. Our kiss cam is better done than any in the league.

We have all the same halftime acts that other arenas have but i question whether they make sense. people are on their cell phones during half time. i wonder if flashing on the scoreboard “$2 off on hot dogs during halftime tonight” just as the half ends would be a better use of our halftime dollars and make the fans happier.

We do all the usual giveways and the fans are usually their loudest when our spirit crew takes the floor to give away t-shirts. It pisses me off that they will yell louder for a t-shirt then for our players.

Our player intro is flat. We manufacture a lot of noise but because of the late arriving crowd and the fact that a lot of blacks dont seem to go as crazy cheering (another one of my theories) as whites, it is not great. Even when we have just returned from winnng four straight on the road, i am one of the few people in the arena standing and cheering when our team takes the floor. Bob has kicked around ideas like having the starters coming down aisles rather than off the bench during intros. Sounds cool but may highlight all the empty seats at the start of games.

Not enough of our fans wear hawks jerseys to games. i have just begun to push for ideas like discount food lines for folks wearing jerseys, special entrances, etc. I think we need a committed and perhaps incentivized fan club. We need to realize atl is simply different than every other city. Just adopting nba best practices is not enough. we have to create our own.

I am rambling and could probably go on forever. If you have any specific areas you would like my thoughts on, let me know.

Best,

Bruce

ps—I have cc’d todd and ed so they can chime in with additional or different thoughts.

Sent from my iPad

12039: RPA LAC AOR.

Advertising Age reported the Los Angeles Clippers named RPA as its AOR, allegedly after a review involving unidentified agencies. Ad Age noted the review took place after the Donald Sterling debacle, which might have inspired the team to seek a new branding direction to distance itself from the racist happenings. Apparently, no one considered MultiCultClassics’ suggestion to select a minority agency to handle the account.

So what is known about the inclusiveness and cultural competence at the winning White advertising agency? Hard to say. The RPA website proclaims, “We champion Whitespace.” Yikes. Maybe Donald Sterling got a vote in the final hiring decision…? Additionally, there’s a section on diversity; however, it mostly features content that doesn’t specifically show the actual diversity at RPA. Instead, there’s a lot of blah-blah-blah including the contention that “diversity and inclusion are our top priorities,” the sponsorship of minority internship programs in the community and partnering with the AAF’s Mosaic Center, the 4As and ADCOLOR®. The photo accompanying RPA internships seems pretty Asian-friendly. Oh, and RPA has a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force. But overall, there’s no strong evidence of a bona fide progressive culture. In fact, the culture section looks rather vanilla.

Los Angeles Clippers Name RPA New Agency After Review

Team Sought Help for Brand After Sterling Scandal

By Maureen Morrison

The Los Angeles Clippers have named RPA the team’s new agency after a review that came on the heels of the scandal around racist comments from now-former owner Donald Sterling.

RPA will be responsible for strategy, creative, media planning and buying, digital and social marketing, as well as branded entertainment. Ultimately, the agency will be responsible for producing work that helps reposition the team’s brand after the Sterling fiasco this spring.

The review began this summer and was conducted by Pile & Co. HeilBrice, an independent agency in Irvine, Calif., had been working with the Clippers since 1999.

“The Los Angeles Clippers will start the 2014–2015 season with a new creative platform that will be promoted across media channels,” the team said in a statement. “ Exact timing is still being established, but a campaign will most likely start in late September or early October.

RPA will help the franchise become “a first-class sports and entertainment brand,” said Kirt Danner, senior VP-group account director at RPA, in a statement. “The soon-to-launch campaign will help the franchise stand out and seize this unique opportunity to gain a competitive edge and increase its fan base.” A spokesman for the Clippers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

When the request for proposals was sent out to agencies, it did not contain much detail in terms of why the team is looking for a new agency, but it seemed that the team was seeking to distance itself from the Sterling scandal and refresh its brand. According to the RFP, the team sought agencies with relevant experience in “rebuilding an established, well-known brand” and able to expand a client’s target audience and create sales-driving retail work.

The NBA banned Mr. Sterling for life and fined him $2.5 million after recordings of the owner spouting racist epithets became public just as the team was trying to mount a playoff run. Mr. Sterling’s estranged wife, Shelley Sterling, struck a deal in May to sell the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for a whopping $2 billion after she conferred with a team of doctors who determined that Mr. Sterling was mentally unfit. Mr. Ballmer was confirmed as the new owner in August.

RPA recently was named the agency for oil company Arco, and began a campaign in July. In August, the agency lost the digital Honda account to a Publicis-Razorfish team after a review that began in January. RPA, whose relationship with Honda is approaching the three-decade mark, still handles Honda creative, and kept that account after a review that wrapped up in March 2013.

The Clippers, according to Kantar Media, are not hefty measured-media spenders. The team spent $433,500 in 2013, down from $615,100 in 2012.

11977: Clippers Can Support Diversity.

Advertising Age reported the Los Angeles Clippers are staging an agency review, and the trade journal speculated the Donald Sterling mess may have inspired the competition. The Ad Age story opened with:

The Los Angeles Clippers are looking for a new agency to help reposition the team’s brand in the wake of the Donald Sterling scandal.

Hey, since the NBA team recruited Dick Parsons to serve as CEO, maybe it’s time to name a Black shop as AOR. Surely coach Doc Rivers and the players would support such a play. And it would really piss off Sterling.

L.A. Clippers Launch Agency Review in Wake of Sterling Scandal

Team Seeks Experience in ‘Rebuilding an Established Well-Known Brand’

By Maureen Morrison

The Los Angeles Clippers are looking for a new agency to help reposition the team’s brand in the wake of the Donald Sterling scandal.

The move comes just a few months after former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer bid a whopping $2 billion for the team following the controversy that erupted over owner Mr. Sterling spouting racist epithets.

The review is being led by Boston-based Pile & Co., and according to people familiar with the review, the team is mainly seeking Los Angeles-area agencies. HeilBrice, an independent agency in Irvine, Calif., had been working with the Clippers since 1999. It’s not clear whether HeilBrice will participate in the review.

A Clippers spokesman confirmed the review, but did not provide any detail because the process was in progress. Executives at HeilBrice also did not respond to a request for comment.

The request for proposals does not supply much detail in terms of why the team is looking for a new agency, but it may well be that the team is seeking to distance itself from the Sterling scandal and refresh its brand. According to the RFP, the team seeks agencies with relevant experience in “rebuilding an established, well-known brand,” and is able to expand a client’s target audience and create sales-driving retail work.

After the recording of Mr. Sterling was released, he received a lifetime ban from the National Basketball Association along with a $2.5 million fine. Mr. Sterling’s estranged wife, Shelley Sterling, struck a deal with Mr. Ballmer in May to sell the team after she conferred with a team of doctors who determined that Mr. Sterling was mentally unfit.

The sale to Mr. Ballmer is not finalized. Mr. Sterling had vowed to never sell the team and filed a lawsuit against Ms. Sterling and the league, charging that a sale requires his approval. A judge in late July issued a preliminary ruling in favor of Ms. Sterling, clearing the way for the sale to Mr. Ballmer.

The Clippers, according to Kantar Media, are not hefty measured-media spenders. The team spent $433,500 in 2013, down from $615,100 in 2012.

11949: Pam El Drafted By NBA.

Advertising Age reported Pam El—formerly of State Farm Insurance—has been named CMO of the NBA. Guess her promotional connections with Chris Paul and LeBron James paid off. No comment or congratulatory voicemail yet from former L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

Pam El Named NBA CMO

Former State Farm Marketer Calls New Job a ‘Dream Come True’

By E.J. Schultz

The National Basketball Association has hired former State Farm marketing executive Pam El as its chief marketing officer.

Ms. El will report directly to NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum and oversee the league’s global marketing operation, “directing brand development, overall marketing and advertising for the NBA, WNBA and NBA Development League,” according to a statement from the NBA.

The NBA has not had a CMO since the 1990s, when the position was held by Rick Welts, who is currently the president and chief operating officer of the Golden State Warriors, according to the NBA. Most recently, the league’s top marketing position was filled by Jamie Gallo, whose title was exec VP-marketing. Mr. Gallo, a former ad agency executive, left the NBA in January.

Ms. El left State Farm about a year ago after an 11-year run. Most recently she served as VP-marketing.

Mr. Tatum said in a statement said that he had “personally worked with Pam for many years on the NBA’s partnership with State Farm,” adding that, “she will be a huge addition as we work to build our brand on a global scale.”

Ms El referred to her new role as “a dream come true,” saying in a statement that “I love the competitiveness of the game and admire the league’s world-class teams and passionate global fanbase.”

She will start work on Aug. 18.

11912: Donald Sterling Is Jerky.

The Los Angeles Times published voicemail recordings left by former L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling for psychiatrists who ruled he was mentally incompetent. As if Sterling’s original infamous recording wasn’t proof enough. Sterling should apply for a job with The Jerky Boys.

11867: Scrutinizing Sterling.

From The New York Times Magazine…

What Exactly Was Donald Sterling’s Offense?

By Chuck Klosterman

We can probably agree that the Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling made offensive comments. But was his offense thinking racist thoughts? Or saying them out loud? Had he not been recorded, Sterling would have received a lifetime achievement award from the N.A.A.C.P. The victim of his remarks was himself: Sterling managed to (further) trash his own reputation. No one else was really injured. Is purity of thought the expectation for team owners? MARK ALEXANDER, ST. LOUIS

Many have asked if the N.B.A. is ethically justified in its effort to force Sterling to sell his ownership stake in the Clippers. It is. Sports franchises can’t be viewed as autonomous private businesses, because they don’t operate in that way. The league as a whole is the business, composed of 30 satellite offices in various cities. The teams are interconnected and some revenue is shared; this is why most players can be traded against their will, and rookie salaries can be capped. Purchasing an N.B.A. team is similar to buying a McDonald’s franchise. And if a specific McDonald’s outlet decided to have its counter employees wear Ku Klux Klan robes, few would disagree with corporate if it removed the proprietor of that store.

Your question, however, is harder (and it has scarcely been asked throughout this whole fiasco): Is Sterling losing his franchise because of what he said, or because of what he believes?

Because of Sterling’s history of suspected racism (as a landlord, he has been sued twice for housing discrimination, and though he denied wrongdoing, settled both cases out of court) and the bizarre contradictions on the tape itself (speaking to a female acquaintance, Sterling says he does not want her bringing black people to Clippers games, despite employing a black coach and a predominantly black roster), the decision to oust him feels easy. But what if the details were more obscured? Imagine if, six months ago, someone had raised the hypothetical notion of forcibly stripping a sports franchise from a longtime owner because a private conversation had been surreptitiously recorded. Few would champion such a premise. Yet Sterling’s punishment received almost universal support. Why? It was not simply what he said, nor simply what he believes — it was the intractable collision of those two things.

The expectation of an N.B.A. owner is not “purity of thought.” Sterling was perceived to be racist for years. But perception isn’t enough. You can’t penalize a person based on what you believe exists inside his mind. It must spill into the world. And this audiotape did exactly that. Had it been another owner’s voice on the tape — say, Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks — there still would have been questions over the sentiment’s context. It would have seemed completely out of step with everything we know about Cuban. But with Sterling, there was no such incongruity. His words validated the longstanding perception of his worldview, and that made both problems nonnegotiable.

11864: Sterling Starts His Own Playoffs.

As predicted, Offensive Karma led to the Los Angeles Clippers’ defeat in the NBA Playoffs. Now banned Los Angeles Clippers Owner Donald Sterling is fighting the league’s $2.5 million fine and team sale plan. It will be interesting to see if Offensive Karma applies not only to basketball courts, but legal courts as well.

11862: Pray For The L.A. Clippers.

For a second, it looked like the selection of Dick Parsons as the new Los Angeles Clippers CEO might have potentially offset the Offensive Karma ignited by Donald Sterling’s racist rant. Alas, Sterling delivered an “apology” that included dissing Magic Johnson, which absolutely negated any goodwill generated by Parsons’ appointment. Johnson remarked, “I’m going to pray for [Sterling]…” Unfortunately, if Offensive Karma plays out, the Clippers don’t have a prayer.

11856: Sterling’s Silver-Tongued.

In a recently uncovered new audio recording, Los Angeles Clippers Owner Donald Sterling tried to explain his infamous racist remarks:

“The girl is Black. I like her. I’m jealous that she’s with other Black guys. I want her. So what the hell, can I in private tell her, you know, ‘I don’t want you to be with anybody’? … I’m trying to have sex with her. I’m trying to play with her. You know, if you (are trying) to have sex with a girl and you’re talking with her privately, you don’t think anybody’s there. You may say anything in the world. What difference does it make?”

Okey-doke. Sterling ought to have his pick-up lines published. Imagine how the smooth phrases might read:

“You’re so fine, don’t bring any Black people to my games.”

“Girl, you’d be perfect if you just remove all the Blacks from your Instagram.”

11852: Clippers Recruit Dick Parsons.

USA TODAY reported former Citigroup and Time Warner Chairman Dick Parsons was selected to serve as Los Angeles Clippers CEO, replacing owner Donald Sterling. Not sure if this move will offset the Offensive Karma that Sterling generated.

Dick Parsons, ex-Time Warner boss, tapped as interim Clippers CEO

By Adi Joseph, USA TODAY Sports

The NBA went business class in picking the Los Angeles Clippers’ interim CEO.

Former Citigroup and Time Warner chairman Dick Parsons was selected to run the Clippers in the aftermath of the lifetime ban of Donald Sterling, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced Friday. The NBA took control of the Clippers in order to place Parsons in charge as the league proceeds with its plan to force Sterling to sell the team.

“Like most Americans, I have been deeply troubled by the pain the Clippers’ team, fans and partners have endured,” Parsons said in a news release. “A lifelong fan of the NBA, I am firmly committed to the values and principles it is defending, and I completely support Adam’s leadership in navigating the challenges facing the team and the league. The Clippers are a resilient organization with a brilliant coach and equally talented and dedicated athletes and staff who have demonstrated great strength of character during a time of adversity.”

Parsons played basketball at the University of Hawaii in the late 1960s. He stepped from Albany Law School into a successful career in law and later corporate management. He has been CEO of Dime Bancorp in addition to his run as president and then CEO of Time Warner from 1995 through 2008. He was Citigroup chairman from 2009 through 2012.

“I believe the hiring of Dick Parsons will bring extraordinary leadership and immediate stability to the Clippers organization,” Silver said in a news release. “Dick’s credentials as a proven chief executive speak for themselves and I am extremely grateful he accepted this responsibility.”

Sterling, the owner who made racist statements to a female friend on an audio recording that went public April 26, is barred from any contact with his team or the NBA, and Silver has pushed the NBA’s Board of Governors to force him to sell his team. But Sterling is expected to fight, and wife Shelly Sterling is interested in keeping her stake the franchise even if Donald Sterling is forced to sell, USA TODAY Sports’ Brent Schrotenboer reported Thursday.

11845: NAACP’s Leon Jenkins Resigns.

The Los Angeles Times reported Los Angeles NAACP President Leon Jenkins resigned his position over ties to Los Angeles Clippers Owner Donald Sterling. Damn, Jenkins almost makes Sterling look like a choirboy.

Head of L.A. NAACP quits over ties to Donald Sterling

By Angel Jennings

The head of the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP resigned Thursday after coming under scrutiny for the organization’s ties to Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

In a letter, Leon Jenkins said the “legacy, history and reputation of the NAACP is more important to me than the presidency. In order to separate the Los Angeles NAACP and the NAACP from the negative exposure I have caused … I respectfully resign my position as president of the Los Angeles NAACP.”

The group granted Sterling an award in 2009, the same year the real estate magnate paid $2.73 million to settle U.S. government claims that he refused to rent his apartments to Latinos and blacks in Koreatown. The chapter was set to give Sterling a second award when a recording emerged in which a man, determined by the NBA to be Sterling, asked a female friend not to publicly associate with African Americans.

In 1988, while he was a judge in Detroit, Jenkins was indicted on federal bribery, conspiracy, mail fraud and racketeering charges, according records from the State Bar of California.

Authorities at the time alleged that Jenkins received gifts from those who appeared in his court and committed perjury, the records show. He was acquitted of criminal charges. But in 1994 the Michigan Supreme Court disbarred him, finding “overwhelming evidence” that Jenkins “sold his office and his public trust,” according to the bar records. The court made the ban retroactive to 1991.

Jenkins was practicing law in California that year, serving as an attorney for the family of Latasha Harlins, an African American teenager who was fatally shot by a Korean grocery store owner in South Los Angeles, according to Times reports.

In 1995, the state bar began looking into the misconduct allegations from Michigan. He was disbarred in 2001, according to the state bar. He tried to be reinstated in 2006 but was rejected, records show. He made another attempt in 2012.

Earlier this month, the bar turned him down, questioning whether he had the “moral fitness to resume the practice of law,” according to records. The bar stated that he made misrepresentations on divorce papers and on his petition for reinstatement to the bar. Officials claimed he failed to disclose a $660,000 loan he owed former legal clients.

In his efforts to win back his law license, Jenkins said he was a rehabilitated man and a force for good in the community.

He said he raised $2 million for the NAACP’s 2011 national convention in Los Angeles. He also cited work with organizations that helped African Americans, including youth mentoring programs and voter outreach.

He presented 13 character witnesses to speak about his character and honesty.

Jenkins did not return calls seeking comment Thursday. On Tuesday, the national office of the NAACP sent a memo to all the chapters, including the 52 branches in California, urging them to not speak to the media. Numerous attempts to contact the organizations have not been returned. One NAACP member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said officials were aware of Jenkins’ past legal issues. But because he was cleared of criminal charges, they didn’t see a problem with giving him a leadership role, the source said.

On the Los Angeles NAACP’s website, a biography of Jenkins notes he was “the youngest African American judge to serve in Michigan” but does not mention his legal troubles.

Details of Jenkins’ history in Michigan were first reported Tuesday by Deadline Detroit and the Michigan Citizen.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Jenkins said he didn’t cut ties with Sterling until now because the group was reluctant to make decisions based on rumors.

“We deal with the actual character of the person as we see it and as it is displayed,” he said.

The NAACP tried to build partnerships with other sports franchises in Southern California, Jenkins added, but “his organization was the only one that really came to the front.”

The chapter had recently been talking to Sterling about giving an endowment to Los Angeles Southwest College and donating more money to African American students at UCLA.

The chapter was prepared to honor Sterling at a gala in May. Newspaper ads for the event recently appeared, featuring photos of Sterling and Jenkins with the headline: “Two Leaders. One Unprecedented Event.”

In the wake of the controversy, an online petition was launched to suspend the Los Angeles chapter.

11844: Short-Lived Lifetime Award.

Learn more here.

11841: Sterling Loses Lifetime Award.

In addition to receiving a lifetime ban from the NBA, Los Angeles Clippers Owner Donald Sterling will also lose a “Lifetime Achievement Award” that the NAACP was set to give him. Why, that’s nearly as outrageous as Rev. Al Sharpton celebrating the NAACP’s Centennial with Ogilvy.

NAACP to tighten up award policies amid Sterling scandal

By Bruce Golding

The NAACP announced Tuesday that it would issue new directives to avoid embarrassments like the since-scrapped plan to honor racist Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

The civil-rights group’s LA chapter was all set to give Sterling a “Lifetime Achievement Award” next month until he was caught on tape ranting at his then-girlfriend for publicly “associating with black people.”

In a statement right after Sterling’s lifetime ban from the NBA, the NAACP said: “We will be developing guidelines for our units to help them in their award selection process and prevent unfortunate decisions like this from occurring in the future.”

Interim NAACP President Lorraine Jenkins announced Sunday that Sterling would not be honored, as had been planned, at the LA chapter’s upcoming 100th anniversary gala.

She also issued a statement saying “we have strongly urged our Los Angeles unit to take the necessary steps to rescind the previous award they bestowed on him.”

At a Monday news conference, LA chapter President Leon Jenkins said Sterling “has given out a tremendous amount of scholarships, he has invited numerous African-American kids to summer camps, and his donations are bigger than other sports franchises.”

Jenkins, however, called Sterling’s recorded comments “devastating” and “off the scale,” adding: “I think that when you say things like that, you have to pay a price.”

He said his group planned to return an unspecified amount of donations it had received from Sterling.

But Jenkins said he would not demand that Sterling return the “humanitarian award” the group gave him in 2009.

“This is not a Heisman Trophy, dude,” Jenkins said.

11840: Sterling Banned For Life.

Los Angeles Clippers Owner Donald Sterling has been banned for life from the NBA for making racist remarks. What’s next for Sterling? He’ll probably land an executive position on Madison Avenue, where he’ll fit right in. Hey, his brother Roger Sterling will give him a job.