'I don't think he sets a good example': Donald Sterling asks for forgiveness in first interview since racism scandal... but then blasts Magic Johnson for 'not doing enough to help minorities'

• On Sunday, Clippers owner Donald Sterling gave his first interview since being banned from the league
• The full interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper will air Monday night
  
• In the interview, Sterling apologizes and asks forgiveness for making racist statements in recorded conversations with girlfriend V. Stiviano
• Sterling says he's called Magic Johnson twice since the scandal to apologize personally
• The 80-year-old got mad at Stiviano, 31, when she posed with Johnson in a picture posted to Instagram
• Sterling bizarrely went on to call Johnson a bad influence, while still considering him a 'good person'
• He also alleges that his 35 years in the league entitle him to forgiveness 
• The NBA board of governors will decide on whether to vote him out of the league this week
  
• His estranged wife Shelly hopes to hold on to her 50 per cent stake in the LA team
• However, LeBron James says he and other NBA players want the Sterling family out of Clippers leadership completely

By Ashley Collman

Published: 21:09 EST, 11 May 2014 | Updated: 21:42 EST, 11 May 2014

More than two weeks after TMZ released tapes of Donald Sterling making racist comments, the 80-year-old Clippers owner has broken his silence to apologize and ask for forgiveness.

Sterling gave his first interview to CNN at his home in Beverley Hills, telling Anderson Cooper he isn't racist and that he believes estranged 31-year-old girlfriend V. Stiviano duped him by recording their private conversations.

The interview was recorded Sunday and will air in full Monday night on Anderson Cooper 360.

Speaking out: Clippers owner Donald Sterling broke his silence on the V. Stiviano scandal Sunday night, giving his first interview to CNN's Anderson Cooper. The full interview will air Monday night. Cooper shared this picture of their conversation on Twitter

In a preview of the interview, Sterling is recorded saying he is sorry for his racist comments and for the many people hurt by his actions.

'I'm not a racist,' Sterling tells Cooper. 'I made a terrible, terrible mistake. And I’m here with you today to apologize and to ask for forgiveness for all the people that I’ve hurt.'

Sterling was originally supposed to appear with Stiviano for interviews with both Cooper and Barbara Walters last week, but dropped out at the last minute. Stiviano followed through to do an interview with Walters solo, while it appeared at first that Cooper came up empty handed.

The woman behind the tapes: Sterling's estranged girlfriend V. Stiviano was the first to speak about the scandal in an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters last week

When asked why it took him so long to respond to the recordings, in which he tells V. Stiviano not to bring black people to his games or pose with them in pictures, he says he has been too 'emotionally distraught'.

'I caused the problem. I don't know how to correct it,' Sterling says.

At the same time, Sterling, the longest-tenured owner in the league, asks to be cut some slack - saying it's a mistake he'll never make again.

Apologizing: Sterling told Cooper he's sorry for the racist comments he made in recorded conversations with girlfriend V. Stiviano (pictured at a Clippers game last October)

'Am I entitled to one mistake, after 35 years? I mean I love my league, I love my partners, am I entitled to one mistake?' he asks.

The NBA's board of governors will decide Sterling's fate, and could force him to sell his team if 75 per cent of the owners are in agreement.

'If the owners feel I have another chance, then they'll give it to me,' he said, adding that he doesn't see the point of a long-drawn out legal battle to rid him.

'If they fight with me and they spend millions and I spend millions let's say I win or they win, I just don't know if that's important,' he said.

In the interview, Sterling specifically apologized to the Clippers players, who in the game after the scandal wore their warm-ups inside out as a show of solidarity against the owner.

'My players, they didn't need this. They didn't need this cloud over their head. They're good people and I love them and respect them,' he said.

Sterling also says he's apologized to Magic Johnson, the target of one of his racist comments, since the scandal. But in a bit of a backwards compliment, calls the retired basketball star both a 'good person' and a bad role model.

'He's a good person,' Sterling said of Johnson. 'I mean what am I going to say? Has he done everything he can do to help minorities? I don't think so. But I’ll say it, he's great. But I don't think he's a good example for the children of Los Angeles.'

At the center of the controversy: V. Stiviano (right) posted a picture of her and Magic Johnson on her Instagram, causing Sterling to get mad at her and tell her not to pose for pictures with black people

Backhanded compliment: In the interview, Sterling called Johnson both a 'good person' and a bad role model. Johnson is pictured above at a Clippers game Sunday, with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on the left and shaking hands with boxing champ Floyd Mayweather on the right. He is one of several people, including Oprah, who have expressed interest in buying the team.

Sterling spoke at length about V.Stiviano, his ex-girlfriend at the center of the scandal who secretly recorded the now-public conversations.

'I don't know why the girl had me say those things,' Sterling says.

When Cooper asks if he was baited by Stiviano, Sterling says yes because 'that's not the way I talk'.

Sterling says he thought their relationship was real but that, with their 51-year age gap, he may have been 'diluting' himself.

'I don't trust her and I just wish I could ask her why and if she was just setting me up,' he says. 'I think that people say she was taping me for two years. So maybe I was just fooling myself thinking for two years that she cared for me. She certainly acted like it.'

His first interview comes just three days after another close confidant released yet another tape in which Sterling explains that he was only saying the racist comments to entice Stiviano into having sex with him.

'The girl is black. I like her. I'm jealous that she's with other black guys. I want her. So what the hell, can I in private tell her, you know, "I don't want you to be with anybody"?' Sterling says in the recordings released by RadarOnline.

Private conversations: In a different set of recordings released to RadarOnline, Sterling says he only said the racist statements to get Stiviano in bed with him

Where did the love go? Sterling says he no longer trusts Stiviano and that she may have been pretending to care for him during the two years they dated. Since the scandal broke, the 31-year-old has been pictured out and about in her signature visor

The NBA swiftly punished Sterling following the release of the first recordings, banning him from the league for life and hitting him with a $2.5million fine.

They may also force him to sell the team, and the NBA's Advisory/Fianance committee met by conference call last Wednesday to discuss the possible termination.

The committee released a statement saying they will meet again next week to discuss the matter further.

Three-quarters of the NBA team owners would have to vote in agreement in order to force Sterling to sell.

Former Time Warner Cable head and Obama advisor Dick Parsons has been chosen as the team's interim CEO for the transition period.

Meanwhile, Sterling's estranged wife Shelly hopes to hold on to her 50 per cent stake in the Los Angeles team.

Wont' let go: Sterling's estranged wife Shelly says she wants to hold onto her 50 per cent stake in the team. Pictured above at a Clippers game on May 3

'She wants to remain a passive owner,' her attorney said in a statement released Friday. 'She's not going to want to manage the team. She's going to want a very skilled, professional, well-heeled new owner to come in and replace Donald.'

Despite separating several years ago, the Sterlings remain married.

'She only wants to own the team in her lifetime. She's 79 years old. At this point, she's earned it. She's been an owner for 33 years, and she's an avid fan,' he lawyer said.

Miami Heat star LeBron James spoke on behalf of many players in the league, saying they don't want any member of the Sterling family in power.

'As players, we want what's right and we don't feel like no one in his family should be able to own the team,' James said after the Miami Heat practiced for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Brooklyn.

No Sterlings, please: Miami Heat star LeBron James spoke on behalf of other players in the league, saying they don't want any member of the Sterling family involved with the Clippers. Pictured above at a game against the Brooklyn Nets in New York on May 10

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