NAIMA LETT – BLOG – HOLLYWOOD CHRISTIAN
Beverly Hills Billionaire Problems
© NaimaLett.com/blog





Wow.

If you don’t frequent celebrity news, you may have missed this week’s TMZ release of Beyonce’s sister Solange going all Rocky Balboa/Billy Banks on Beyonce’s husband Jay-Z in the infamous hotel elevator video after the Met Ball. Touché.

But there is NO WAY any of us could miss the ongoing LaLa Land soap opera starring Beverly Hills billionaire Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, who were eliminated from the NBA Playoffs by Oklahoma City Thunder last night.

Talk about problems.

Sterling’s response to his lifetime NBA ban and $2.5 million fine for racist comments recorded by personal assistant/alleged mistress V. Stiviano and leaked to TMZ Sports was to grant an exclusive, hour-plus-long CNN interview this week to Anderson Cooper from his Beverly Hills mansion right up the street. Bad idea.

Or brilliant idea…
…if your goal is to stay in the news cycle as long as possible. His “outrageous” comments had to then be rebutted by Magic Johnson and compared to Barbara Walter’s interviews with his estranged wife Rochelle and former girlfriend V. Stiviano. And it goes on and on and on.

Forbes just released an article referencing its first 1989 Sterling write-up by Dana Weschler who described Sterling as:

“He craves, nay, lusts to be a celebrity. In the last year scores of journalists across the country have received ‘personal’ notes from him praising one of their recent articles and offering them tickets to Clippers games. At one California newspaper, so many reporters received the letters that the office joke became displaying them on the bulletin board. If the reporters won’t bite, the advertising departments of the media will oblige. Two-page spreads filled with society photographs of Sterling appeared in a Beverly Hills newspaper in July. ‘Mr. and Mrs. Donald T. Sterling greet television star Barbara Eden,’ read one caption.”

Basketball Hall of Famer and former Los Angeles Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor, who sued Sterling in 2009 for employment discrimination, confirmed in a recent interview that Sterling indeed “likes the limelight, whether good or bad”.

So Why Are We?

So my question is, “Why are we giving the light to him?” Myself included.

It’s only been 2 weeks, and I’m already exhausted of Sterling, the reports of his unscrupulous dealings, discrimination lawsuits, and this expanding cast of attention-seeking characters. Problem is that this story is just gearing up. There will be legal fights and more audio recordings leaked. It’s NO accident that the first tape was leaked while the Clippers were in the Playoffs. This story wouldn’t have nearly as much juice without Clippers players turning their jerseys backwards and folks trying to figure out how an African American coach feels about playing for a racist owner.

This will likely be the only post I address this, because for me, it’s the principle of the thing. This ain’t light, Fam. There are so many other wonderful milestones we’re celebrating this month: graduations, anniversaries, birthdays, reunions. There are folks out here ‘letting their light shine before others, that they may see their good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven.’ Matt 5:14-16. I’d rather rejoice in those things.

Problem Solver

And in the case of our Beverly Hills billionaire, I think we can all follow Magic’s suit and lift up prayers for true repentance and transformation. Let’s be clear: the root of racism, pride and greed is sin, and there is only one Person I know who forgives sin. Perhaps our Jewish brother Sterling, who once changed his name from Tokowitz, will have an encounter with our Jewish LORD and yearn to love and treat others better.

I’m reminded of a quote I heard recently from another Beverly Hills resident who lives not far from Sterling, Denzel Washington: “You never see a UHAUL behind a hearse. I’ve been blessed to make hundreds of millions of dollars in my life. I can’t take it with me. Neither can you. It’s not how much we have, but what you DO with what you have. And we all have different gifts… Use it. Share it. That’s what counts…”

It’s not how much we have, Fam. It’s what we do with it. Instead of undercutting folks and discriminating because of race and using our wealth to solely push forward our agenda to gain media exposure and fame, let’s find ways to use and share our gifts with others. That’s what counts.

On that note, I’m off to celebrate a USC Masters graduate today (Go Drea!). This time next year that’ll be me at BIOLA/TALBOT.

Lots of love from the LaLa,
Naima

Rev. Naima Lett, D.MIN, ABD
The Hollywood Christian®
Author of coming release Confessions of a Hollywood Christian®

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