The owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers was caught on tape making some outrageously racist comments that has the sports world up in arms and black racialists calling for his head.

The recording was obtained by TMZ:

L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling told his GF he does NOT want her bringing black people to his games ... including Magic Johnson ... and it's ALL on tape.

TMZ Sports has obtained audio of Sterling making the racist declaration during a heated argument on April 9th with V. Stiviano ... after she posted a photo on Instagram posing with Magic. 

Sterling rails on Stiviano -- who ironically is black and Mexican -- for putting herself out in public with a black person (she has since taken the pic down).  But it doesn't end there.  You have to listen to the audio to fully grasp the magnitude of Sterling's racist worldview. Among the comments:

-- "It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?" (3:30) 

-- "You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want.  The little I ask you is not to promote it on that ... and not to bring them to my games." (5:15)

-- "I’m just saying, in your lousy f******* Instagrams, you don’t have to have yourself with, walking with black people." (7:45)

-- "...Don't put him [Magic] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me.  And don't bring him to my games." (9:13)

Sterling has a documented history of allegedly racist behavior -- he's been sued twice by the federal government for allegedly refusing to rent apartments to Blacks and Latinos. 

He was also sued by former Clippers exec Elgin Baylor for racial discrimination -- though a jury was ultimately not convinced and shot down Baylor's case.  

Sterling has been separated from his wife Shelly for years.  She remains a key player in running the team and sources tell us she's "mortified" by Sterling's comments.

Some on the left are trying to tie Sterling to the GOP. But as Donald Douglas points out, Sterling has a history of supporting Democratic candidates as well as numerous liberal causes.

While perhaps Ofari Hutchison's not persuaded that Sterling's done much in fact to help the black community, as LAT's Banks points out, the Clippers owner indeed has a long history of philanthropy for a litany of left-wing causes. Sports Illustrated, back in 2000, ran a major feature story on Sterling, critical of his success as an NBA owner but highlighting his liberal philanthropy, "Up And Down In Beverly Hills":

Another inconvenient truth; incredibly, Sterling is set to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award - from the NAACP!

The Clippers players, locked in a tight playoff series with the Golden State Warriors, are obviously upset..Some outside the organization have called for the Clippers players to boycott until the NBA takes the franchise away from Sterling.

This, the league can do since they are perfectly free to pick and choose which owners run their franchises. But the team has rejected boycotting the playoffs and any move to seize the Clippers from Sterling will no doubt get hung up in the courts for months.

Who's worse? Sterling or Cliven Bundy? Both men are about the same age, and the notion of a generational outlook on race cannot be dismissed. That doesn't make their views less heinious, but by way of explaining how some could possess such backward views of race and race relations. In this, party affiliation and ideological identification doesn't matter much.

But you can bet that Sterling's support of liberal candidates and causes will be downplayed while Bundy's ties to the GOP - whatever they are - are highlighted in the media.