Anderson Cooper landed Donald Sterling's first public appearance since his racist comments went public, and the racist Clippers owner's defense is simple: he's not racist.

During the interview, set to air Monday night, Sterling begins to beg the NBA to let him keep his team.

"I'm a good member who made a mistake and I'm apologizing and I'm asking for forgiveness," he tells Cooper. "Am I entitled to one mistake, am I after 35 years? I mean, I love my league, I love my partners. Am I entitled to one mistake? It's a terrible mistake, and I'll never do it again."

Sterling also laid the blame squarely at the feet of his ex-girlfriend, noted visor-wearer V. Stiviano.

"When I listen to that tape, I don't even know how I can say words like that. ... I don't know why the girl had me say those things," he said on CNN. "I was baited... I mean, that's not the way I talk. I don't talk about people for one thing, ever. I talk about ideas and other things. I don't talk about people."

But despite repeatedly protesting his "one mistake," he wasn't done talking about Magic Johnson.

In the meantime, his estranged wife Shelly is making her own PR play. In an ABC interview set to air tonight, Shelly told Barbara Walters she's trying to keep her 50 percent stake in the team and suggested Sterling, who is rumored to have cancer, may also be suffering from dementia.

[image via AP]