While Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s racist comments earlier this year provided prime fodder for political pundits and late night comedy bits alike, one NBC sportscaster was not impressed with the wall-to-wall coverage.
NBC Sportscaster Bob Costas appeared on MSNBC’s “Up w/ Steve Kornacki” Saturday to discuss his role in political sports commentary. Kornacki preempted the interview with an introduction about sports bringing people together, especially during the Fourth of July weekend, but the interview quickly turned combative. This tone grew even more pronounced when Costas began mocking NBC and MSNBC’s coverage of Sterling.
“To me that was a low hanging fruit thing. Who — who this side of outliers who can’t get a hearing anywhere on the spectrum — Who doesn’t think that what Donald Sterling said and what his record reveals about him is unacceptable? So that was an easy one,” Costas commented.
Sterling was banned for life from the NBA back in May after being caught on tape making racist remarks while in conversation with his mistress.
He went out to denounce the network’s reasoning for discussing the comments.
“When people say, well, this is an opportunity to open up a dialogue on race. Here is where I think some people who work in this building ought to step up and say you know what, that’s a bunch of politically correct BS,” Costas said. “What you really want, not you necessarily Steve, but what people really want, is a chance to repeat the same narrative. The less comfortable truths, the more complicated state of race relations and difficulties with race in America in 2014 as opposed to 1964 and 1984, that’s something you don’t want to wade into. So I don’t know who decided David Duke would have a problem in denouncing Donald Sterling. What is the controversy? The guy’s an addled old man who shouldn’t own a team.”
He went on to say that the left needs “courageous” people to come forward and challenge the idea that 2014 America is inherently racist.
“That narrative is much more complex now. And some of the issues that are afflicting black America are not the result primarily of white racism,” Costas said. “That’s a politically incorrect thing to say that somebody in this studio needs to say.”
Watch the full interview below:
