The Los Angeles Clippers players staged a silent protest during a playoff game on Sunday against racist comments allegedly made by team owner Donald Sterling, according to the Associated Press.
The players gathered at center court and dropped their sweat-jackets with the team's name around the tip-off circle before turning their warm-up jerseys inside-out to hide the team name before losing to the Golden State Warriors, the AP reported.
The silent demonstration simultaneously with massive amounts of criticism over a 10-minute recording obtained by celebrity news website TMZ in which a man reported to be the NBA owner tells a woman not to post photographs of herself with black people online and not to bring African-Americans to Clippers games, according to the AP.
The taped remarks rocked the National Basketball Association where most of the players are black while leaving officials scrambling to address the scandal that has threatened to overshadow the playoffs, the AP reported.
Star guard Chris Paul told reporters the players had discussed boycotting the game and that all players came out for the game with black socks and bands that game as part of the protest, according to the AP. The players did not speak of the clothing protest ahead of the game.
Clippers coach Doc Rivers said the Warriors had outplayed his team and taking responsibility for failing to prepare them mentally for the big game after the loss, the AP reported. Sterling has not made any public comment.
Clippers President Andy Roeser has issued a statement saying he had listened to the recording on TMZ and had not yet determined if it was legitimate or had been "altered" somehow, according to the AP.
"Mr Sterling is emphatic that what is reflected on that recording is not consistent with, nor does it reflect his views, beliefs or feelings. It is the antithesis of who he is, what he believes and how he has lived his life," Roeser said in the statement, the AP reported.
