On Tuesday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver held a lengthy press conference in which he announced that he had banned LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling from the league for life following the leak of his racist telephone conversation with his girlfriend. He took questions from a wide number of journalists from many different news outlets.
Almost all of the questions were about things like how Silver himself was feeling, or why the NBA had overlooked Sterling's racism for so many years. Just one questioner seemed to question the NBA's decision to ban Sterling: a reporter from Fox News's "The Kelly File."
"Should someone lose their team for remarks, shared and private?" the reporter asked. "Is this a slippery slope?"
Silver responded that Sterling's remarks were no longer private when they were released, and quickly moved onto the next question.
This reaction was typical:
OF COURSE the Fox News question at the NBA press conference is whether it’s fair to take away a franchise for privately made comments.
— Jack Moore (@JackPMoore) April 29, 2014
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