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The Weird And Uncomfortable Things About Donald Sterling’s Black History Month “Celebration”

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling—who, in the past, has been accused of being a racist—will be celebrating Black History Month by admitting 1,000 “underprivileged children” in free to a basketball game in March. There are a number of things that are weird and/or uncomfortable about this.

First, here’s a little backstory on Sterling: he’s been accused of making comments about players’ “beautiful black bodies,” and has been sued by the Department of Justice for housing discrimination. In short, Sterling has often been accused of a pattern of racist behavior towards black players, and black people in general. The perception of him is that he’s a bigot.

So, this ticket giveaway is likely an attempt by Sterling to try to change that perception, at least somewhat. In Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, his glowing face appears next to an elated Blake Griffin in an ad announcing the promotion.

Now, onto some of the weird/uncomfortable things about it. The promotion will take place on March 2. Black History Month—which, just as it sounds, lasts a month—is throughout February. In fairness to Sterling and the Clippers, they had only two home games in February. But still, they could have prepared in advance and offered tickets to one of those two games.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the promotion is this: children must bring the ad to the game in order to receive their free ticket. This makes us wonder exactly how ticket agents are going to decide who qualifies as an underprivileged child. The ad didn’t specify, and we’re a little scared to find out.

Additionally, all children must be accompanied by an adult. While the ad explains that the children will get in for free, it does not specify whether the accompanying adults will also receive a free ticket. But knowing Sterling, we wouldn’t be at all surprised if they do not. As SB Nation pointed out, don’t be shocked if you hear that Sterling has denied housing to some of the families who attend this game.

Be prepared for this to backfire, and backfire big.