'I don’t think I have to interpret those statements for you,' the president says. | AP Photos 'Incredibly offensive racist statements'

President Barack Obama says he’s “confident” the NBA will address and resolve the controversy surrounding the “incredibly offensive racist statements” attributed to Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

“The owner is reported to have said some incredibly offensive racist statements that were published. I don’t think I have to interpret those statements for you; they kind of speak for themselves,” Obama said at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Sunday.


“When people — when ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don’t really have to do anything, you just let them talk. And that’s what happened here.”

( Also on POLITICO: Pols, NBA players condemn racist remarks)

TMZ first posted an audio recording Friday of a conversation reportedly between Sterling and his girlfriend, V. Stiviano, where the owner told her not to bring black players to team games or post pictures with African-Americans on Instagram. “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?” the voice in the recording says.

Sterling has owned the Clippers since 1981, when they were based in San Diego. Civil rights leaders and NBA stars such as LeBron James and Magic Johnson — whom Sterling singled out as someone not to post on Instagram — have condemned the remarks.

“Obviously, the NBA is a league that is beloved by fans all across the country,” Obama said. “It’s got an awful lot of African-American players. It’s steeped in African-American culture. And I suspect that the NBA is going to be deeply concerned in resolving this.”

( Also on POLITICO: NAACP pulls Sterling's award)

Obama added that the comments show that, “The United States continues to wrestle with a legacy of race and slavery and segregation that’s still there — the vestiges of discrimination.

“We’ve made enormous strides, but you’re going to continue to see this percolate up every so often,” he added. “And I think that we just have to be clear and steady in denouncing it, teaching our children differently, but also remaining hopeful that part of why some statements like this stand out so much is because there had been — there has been this shift in how we view ourselves.”

Follow @politico