The Sterling Scandal

The key facts of this situation:

• An audio tape released of a man identified as Donald Sterling where he made racist comments to his girlfriend.
• Donald Sterling has faced allegations of racial discrimination in the past.
• The NBA banned Donald Sterling for life and gave him a $2.5 million fine for his comments.
• A number of corporations withdrew their sponsorship of the team as a protest to Sterling's comments.

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• The central ethical issue in this case is racial discrimination.
• Adam Silver, the Commissioner of the NBA, decided to ban Sterling for life, gave him a $2.5 million fine and forced him to sell the team.
• The outcome of the case is that because of his comments, Sterling lost ownership of the Clippers. The consequences were that he was fined and later forced to sell the team.
• The author takes an objective viewpoint.

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• Who are the people impacted by the CEO's position? The team was impacted because due to Sterling's comments, many of their sponsors pulled their sponsorship. Sterling was impacted having lost ownership of his team.

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• Is this issue about business ethics, social pressure, or religious beliefs? In my opinion, it's both business ethics and social pressure because he is entitled to his personal opinion and the audio that was released was a personal conversation between him and his girlfriend. Had the audio never been released, it would not have become a business ethics issue.