CNN's Anderson Cooper followed-up his exclusive interview with embattled LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling with a one-on-one with NBA legend Magic Johnson Tuesday night.
Johnson has been a central figure in the ongoing Sterling-saga as he was discussed in a frank and unflattering way on the audio tapes released by Sterling's girlfriend, V. Stiviano. In Cooper's interview with Sterling which aired Monday night, Sterling doubled-down on his criticisms of Johnson by saying, "What kind of a guy goes to every city, has sex with every girl, then he catches HIV? Is that someone we want to respect and tell our kids about?"
Johnson got his chance to respond and said, "It's sad. It really is. I'm going to pray for this ... man." In response to Sterling's suggestion that Johnson has not done anything for poor, inner-city blacks in Los Angeles, Johnson retorted, "My whole life is devoted to urban America. So, you know I just wish he knew the facts when he's talking. But he's a man who's upset and he's reaching. He's reaching. He's trying to find something that he can grab on to help him save his team. And it's not going to happen."
Cooper asked Johnson about accusations that he, in some way, was behind the sting on Sterling so that he could wrestle ownership of the Clippers away from the octogenarian. Johnson laughed at the suggestion. "If I was going to trick somebody, deceive somebody, be dishonest to somebody, steal somebody's franchise, it's going to be the Los Angeles Lakers." He went on to say, "If it comes out and it's for sale, and my Guggenheim (Baseball Management) partners and I say, 'OK, we want to take a look at it, we want to buy it,' of course, we'll make a run for it."
