Donald Sterling recently ran a half page ad in the LA Times congratulating himself for donating money to UCLA. He made up much of what he said. You might wonder, why is the ad so hideous and amateurish? It’s because he does the layout himself.
UCLA says they did not agree to a plaque in the lobby or to name a lab after Sterling. They are returning his money. I lived in LA for years. Sterling frequently runs these hideous ads, which are always about him and not about how the money might actually help someone else.
Dangerous Minds explores the ads of the West Coast Donald Trump.
Sterling has committed some other unpardonable sins, first and foremost being just about the nastiest thing I could ever think to call anyone, a West Coast version of Donald Trump. Attentive readers of the L.A. Times will be familiar with these bizarre advertisements sprinkled about occasionally in which Sterling is touting not so much any enterprise he’s associated with, but Donald T. Sterling himself.
Mr. Sterling’s divisive and hurtful comments demonstrate that he does not share UCLA’s core values as a public university that fosters diversity, inclusion and respect. For those reasons, UCLA has decided to return Mr. Sterling’s initial payment of $425,000 and reject the remainder of a $3 million pledge he recently made to support basic kidney research by the UCLA Division of Nephrology.