3 leading insurers pull Clippers’ sponsorship

State Farm may be a good neighbor, but is not longer there as sponsor for the Los Angeles Clippers.

Marine

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State Farm may be a good neighbor, but is not longer there as sponsor for the Los Angeles Clippers, following the release of audiotape allegedly capturing owner Donald Sterling in a racist rant.

Transition CEO Steve Stoute, who represents State Farm, announced on ESPN’s Cowherd radio show yesterday that State Farm would not sponsor the Clippers as long as Sterling was owner. Stoute said sponsorship of individual players might continue, but not of the organization itself.

“I’m telling the brands, ‘Let’s pull sponsorship,’ starting with State Farm,” Stoute told ESPN. “When you have things like this taking place, somebody has to stand up.”

Stoute added that he expected more companies to pull their sponsorship in the next 48 hours.

State Farm was the second Clippers sponsor to jump ship, preceded by CarMax, which told ESPN it found Sterling's statements "completely unacceptable." The insurer left after sponsoring the Los Angeles team for nine seasons. Virgin America is also dropping its Clippers sponsorship.

Sterling allegedly went on a racist rant to his girlfriend, V. Stiviano,  in audio picked up by TMZ. In the audio that has been attributed by TMZ to Sterling, he’s very bothered by her public association with a number of black individuals, including Magic Johnson, ordering her never to bring black people to any of his games.

According to the audio, Sterling says he has nothing against minorities, but doesn’t want her to publicly “broadcast that you’re associating with black people.” He shouts, “In your lousy (expletive deleted) Instagrams you don’t have to have yourself with –– walking with black people.”

Now, TMZ has released more audio allegedly of Sterling, explaining that he doesn't think he's racist because he puts food on the tables of his black employees.

The NBA reacted fairly quickly, banning Sterling from the association and fining him the maximum $2.5 million.

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