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Donald Sterling Speaks Out as Wife Says She'll Fight for Team; Reassessment in MH370 Search; Michael Sam Kiss Celebrated, Criticized

Aired May 12, 2014 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We have been talking a lot about the CNN exclusive with Donald Sterling, and he speaks for the very first time about the now-infamous racist rants attributed to him. The statements cost Sterling his seat in the NBA and possibly his team. And during these reported rants, Sterling took aim at NBA Hall of Famer, Magic Johnson. He then reportedly admitted in a second recording to making those comments out of jealousy. So when we thought Sterling was finished talking about Magic Johnson, he wasn't. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD STERLING, OWNER, LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS: The only one that I know that I talk to is Magic Johnson.

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, A.C. 360: Did you apologize to him?

STERLING: Well, if I said anything wrong, I'm sorry. He's a good person. What am I going to say? Has he done everything he can do to help minorities? I don't think so. But I will say it. I'll say it. He's great. But I just don't think he is a good example for the children of Los Angeles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: OK. Let's talk to someone who knows Magic Johnson, Rachel Nichols, host of CNN's "Unguarded."

Rachel, Nichols --

(CROSSTALK)

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN HOST, UNGUARDED: Brooke, I've seen this like eight times and I'm still shaking my head.

BALDWIN: It continues. I know. So why does Donald Sterling as he is clearly trying to apologize continue to dig at this man you say I'm sorry.

(CROSSTALK)

NICHOLS: He says, what am I going to say. Let me tell you what you say. You say I'm sorry. You say he's a good person. You don't take three or four different shots at him. It's unbelievable. I think those comments will resonate around the community. I have already heard from several players this morning as the sound has been playing, saying that he said what? I think it may be the final nail in the coffin for Donald Sterling.

BALDWIN: It sounds like just the beginning of additional comments that he made to Anderson that we'll be listening for when the whole thing airs at 8:00. Here's my other question. This is the follow up. Magic said he would never go to another Clippers game as long as Donald Sterling is the team's owner. He's still the owner and Magic Johnson was at the game last night. What's going on there?

NICHOLS: Yeah. Magic, of course, will say that there has been enough of a change and that the NBA is working to get Donald out and that he wanted to support the players, and I'm sure absolutely all of that is true. He has had great camaraderie with the players and the coach. But there's this lingering issue of, does Magic Johnson want to throw his hat in the ring to buy the Clippers. He released a statement shortly after a report, no, no, no, I don't want to buy the Clippers. Then he eased off of that. And even if he does want to buy the team, Oprah Winfrey wants to buy the team, along with many others, a lot of people with deep pockets, and I'm sure Magic Johnson is surveying it. I'm sure he didn't have anything nice to say about Donald Sterling this morning.

BALDWIN: Well, while all those people could be vying to buy the team, there is the estranged wife here. This is the other variable. Shelly Sterling, and she talked to Barbara Walters, and she reasserted that she's not a racist, but she wants to keep her stake in this team. Here she was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA WALTERS, CORRESPONDENT, ABC NEWS: Is Donald Sterling a racist?

SHELLY STERLING, WIFE OF DONALD STERLING: I have never heard him say racial things. It was horrible when I heard it. It was degrading and it made me sick to hear it. But as far as a racist, I don't think he is a racist. I don't love him. I pity him and I feel sorry for him.

WALTERS: Mrs. Sterling, you own 50 percent of the L.A. Clippers. The NBA may insist that the team be sold. What would you do then?

SHELLY STERLING: I'm fighting for my 50 percent.

WALTERS: There are reports that the NBA wants to oust you completely as a team owner. You will fight that decision?

SHELLY STERLING: I will fight that decision.

WALTERS: What does the team mean to you?

SHELLY STERLING: It means a lot. I've been with the team for 33 years, through the good times and the bad times. And it's my passion and I love it.

WALTERS: Do you support the NBA's decision to ban your husband?

SHELLY STERLING: I can't comment on that. I was shocked by what he said and I guess whatever their decision is, we have to live with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Rewind. You heard Shelly Sterling say she will fight. You have talked to, and we know there are players in the NBA, they say, I don't care who you are, if your last name is "Sterling," I'm not playing for you. Including what Lebron James, he said this is unacceptable.

NICHOLS: Yeah, absolutely. For years, when Michael Jordan was the best player in the league, he was so careful not to take positions on any big issues, anything political. Didn't want to offend anyone. Lebron James has taken a different tact. He has been a leader to the other players speaking on this issue.

I had a chance to talk to him yesterday, and I asked him what he thought of this investigation. It's been two weeks and the NBA has not notified Sterling of anything, and the possibility of Shelly possibly taking over. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, NBA PLAYER: Obviously, there will be a long litigation. This guy was on the team so he's not going give a team up in a day. We understand it's going be long but we want what's right. We don't feel like no one on his family should own the team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLS: There has been talk about the fact that if Donald Sterling still owns this team months from now, when the NBA season starts up again next week, players will be upset enough that they may start talking about a boycott again. Remember, they had serious conversations about that the night before Adam Silver made his ruling. I think everyone is willing to give the NBA a little room here, a little time over the next month of so to let this play out. But come next season, this better be resolved as far as these players are concerned. And they have some power here.

BALDWIN: We watch and wait. We watch to see what the NBA's next move will be.

Rachel Nichols, thank you so much.

Just a reminder to all of you. We want you to watch this entire Donald Sterling exclusive interview, tonight, 8:00 eastern, only here on CNN, on "A.C. 360."

And now to this. Remember those pings that we talked about for weeks and weeks? The ones we were told could be from flight 370's black box? After two months of trying to track them, it turns out the Australians reportedly believe they may not have been pings at all.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Day 67 since Malaysia Air flight 370 vanished. And for the first time, doubt about certain key details in the search coming from the Australian Navy. All along, analysts and others pointed out that it's possible that the pings search teams used to help figure out where to look may not be from the plane. Now you pick up the "Wall Street Journal," and they have a report from a senior Australian officer saying that searchers are increasingly suspect of some of these pings, that they were not at all from the plane's black boxes. And yet the search leader, Angus Houston, just told our own correspondent, Anna Coren, he has faith that all four instances of pings are valid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So you are 100 percent certain that the plane is here in the Southern Indian Ocean?

ANGUS HOUSTON, CHIEF COORDINATOR OF FLIGHT 370 SEARCH: I'm still hopeful that we will find something in that area because it was a man- made transmission. We're going back to that area. I think we should all pray that we something at the bottom of the ocean in that area.

COREN: Do you think something could be found within the next month?

HOUSTON: If we find something, I will be overjoyed. If we don't, we go on to the next phase of the search.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Joining me now, CNN aviation analyst, Jeff Wise, who wrote the book, "Extreme Fear."

Can I be real with you?

JEFF WISE, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Sure.

BALDWIN: Are you kidding me? That was the first thing I thought when I saw that "Wall Street Journal" report. Seriously?

(CROSSTALK)

WISE: Brooke, it's incredible -- if this is true, and that is a significant thing. It kind of boggles the mind. There's been a lot of reasons to doubt the pings came from the black box. As we know, the searchers have scoured the bottom of the ocean floor in the areas where the pings were hard, and they haven't found anything. That was a major reason to doubt that it came from the plane. We've heard language from the Australian prime minister dying he was disappointed and baffled. So this isn't a total shock. But to report that the frequencies were even more different from what was engineered from the 777 --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: We knew they were off initially but they are apparently now further off than what was reported?

WISE: Right. And so why are we being told this now?

BALDWIN: The obvious question is, so what next? Angus Houston is saying they'll continue searching for this plane with the current location based upon the pings, the information they had. But if the pings were not the pings, I'm just looking ahead in saying, what do they do next?

WISE: His language is pretty vague. First of all, the words that he used were not very inspiring. He said we should pray. That's not very confident sounding. And then we will do the next phase. What is the next phase? If you have looked in this area that you have described as the best hope and there's nothing there, what do you do now? Unfortunately, the language we heard is, well, we could spend the next year scouring the seabed with all these resources. The ocean is a huge place. These kinds of resources work very, very slowly. You could spend a generation scouring the bottom of the Indian Ocean. Listen, we don't even know which hemisphere this plane was in. We have zero --

(CROSSTALK)

WISE: -- nothing, and it's been over two months now. Nothing.

BALDWIN: Like you said from the get-go, they need to release the Inmarsat data. I have to go, but you have been calling for that from the beginning, just to get fresh eyes, fresh perspective, and perhaps that's what will happen. We know it's not up to Inmarsat, but up to the Malaysian government. Will the release that? We don't know yet.

WISE: They said they won't, but the pressure is going to grow.

BALDWIN: It will.

Jeff Wise, thank you so much.

WISE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Michael Sam becoming the first openly gay player drafted to the NFL. Certainly, a joyous moment, sealed with a kiss. Here you go. But wait until you hear how some current and former players reacted to this emotional moment. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: An historic moment at the NFL draft.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the 249th pick in the 2014 NFL draft, the St. Louis Rams select Michael Sam --

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: So there you have it, the Michael Sam announcement. And then viewers watched this. Michael Sam on the phone in tears getting the phone call from the Rams, and then the kiss, the kiss with the boyfriend, the embrace. A moment both celebrated and slammed on social media, Twitter. You have this, Miami Dolphin quarterback, Don Jones, tweeted, "OMG, horrible." He did delete the tweets after hearing from Miami's front office. The team has since punished Jones.

Let's talk about the reaction here. Here to talk about this, Jay Thomas, Emmy-ward winning actor and Sirius XM radio show host; and Brian McFayden joins me from "The Bleacher Report" with --

(CROSSTALK)

BRIAN MCFAYDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, THE BLEACHER REPORT: Wait, already, you're not talking about my awards?

BALDWIN: You won an award?

MCFAYDEN: I won an award like in the sixth grade for like swimming.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Nice job. This is where we're about to go.

MCFAYDEN: Fabulous.

BALDWIN: This is going to be fun.

MCFAYDEN: There's a recount --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I'm going to be hitting the sixth grade award winner with this.

This story, is it more about that we now have this, you know, openly gay football player, or is it about this public display of affection?

MCFAYDEN: It's all about the PDA. It's not about him being openly gay. Michael Sam has been under a thick microscope. He has been snubbed by so many teams round after round after round. 249 picks into it, the rams pick him up. He was the co-defensive player for the SEC. If he wants to kiss his man in front of the whole world to see, I say break out the Chap Stick. Douse him up.

(LAUGHTER)

MCFAYDEN: Give him a kiss.

BALDWIN: Jay Thomas, weigh in. What did you think?

JAY THOMAS, TALK RADIO SHOW HOST, SIRIUS XM: Yeah, before I got here, I called another guy in the NFL and he says, hey, you know, his numbers at the combine were bad.

BALDWIN: Yeah.

THOMAS: I said really. That's what the NFL is doing. And also the Miami Dolphins just finished their diversity training. Congratulations. You're idiots.

(LAUGHTER)

And here's another one. Guys in locker rooms it's very macho. It's a group of individuals that don't know how to deal with this. They are coming out of football factories and being made into professionals as soon as they hit college. This guy is the number-one player in the SEC. When you see all of these guys praying in the middle of the field, which is getting so big you almost can't interview people, they aren't praying for gay people and same-sex marriage. You have evangelical Christians that are in locker rooms and a lot of these owners said, we are not bringing a gay guy into this macho, evangelical, right wing conservative locker room. A lot of teams made a business decision not to disrupt their locker room. I truly believe that.

BALDWIN: I think about Jason Collins, the first openly gay professional athlete, playing for Brooklyn, and that has sort of been a non-story story. Then you have Michael Sam, playing for the Rams. The huge difference, to your point, is the PDA here. Here we are in 2014 and everyone, many people seemed to have evolved so much over gay issues in the last year or two. Does it surprise that a kiss between two men gets so much public attention? To either of you?

(CROSSTALK)

THOMAS: Sure. If you and I kissed right now, we would get public attention. You can't kiss a man on TV.

BALDWIN: Think of everyone who is drafted -- very funny, by the way. But if you think of all --

(CROSSTALK)

THOMAS: If a guy came in and kissed me right now, I would be trending.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Do I see Chap Stick?

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: We've got problems.

BALDWIN: Do I see Chap Stick?

THOMAS: We should have done this show together and just made out.

BALDWIN: Get a room, fellows. Get a room.

MCFAYDEN: No, I was watching the draft with my son. He's 12 years old. I was looking at him to see what kind of response he would have. First of all, we didn't Michael Sam to kiss his boyfriend. My son and I said, I wonder what kind of cake they're eating.

BALDWIN: Are you serious?

MCFAYDEN: Yeah. It had nothing to do with him being gay.

BALDWIN: 12 years old.

(CROSSTALK)

THOMAS: Let me make another statement.

BALDWIN: Go ahead, Jay.

THOMAS: Your children, my children, my boys -- I've got three boys -- They went to public schools or whatever, but they lived in a community where diversity was rewarded. I'm not sure that guys that end up being NFL football players or basketball or whatever are going to schools and in locker rooms where diversity is discussed. What is discussed is knock the hell out of somebody, run a touchdown, hit a bucket, whatever. So I believe your son and my sons will be more readily available for a gay player in a locker room. Jeff Fisher is very brave at St. Louis, but I think Jeff Fisher, if he was smart, he met with his team first.

MCFAYDEN: Absolutely.

THOMAS: By the way, Michael Sam will knock the hell out of people, and I hope they throw flags to every guy that calls him a fag or a queer or whatever. Now you can't curse on the field. I hope they throw a flag and give whatever signal they're going to give that they curse this guy. He's going to be -- it's going to be a very rough year for him, very rough year.

BALDWIN: Jay Thomas and Brian McFayden, and his Chap Stick.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Guys, awesome discussion. Thank you.

MCFAYDEN: Thanks for having us on.

THOMAS: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Just ahead here, we have to talk about this Islamist extremist group filming this, chilling video of these captives, these young girls kidnapped in the middle of the night from their school. They say they are willing to trade for Boko Haram prisoners, these Islamists. Nigeria says they are open to just about anything to get them back. That just happened in the last hour. Should they be negotiating with these terrorists? We'll debate that coming up here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just in time for the summer tour season, the Washington Monument is back in business.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The official ribbon-cutting ceremony there this morning. Public tours began last hour for the first time since the monument was damaged -- remember all those cracks? -- from that earthquake three years ago. The renovation cost $15 million, which was split between taxpayers and --