"Actually" this theory doesn't make any sense once you consider the fact that the racist statements that ended his career were on this tape. He went through his long public career without making racist statements despite harboring racist beliefs, so he knew what impact such statements would have. If he had known he was being taped for publicity, it would have made no sense for him to make what he would know to be public racist statements.

The judge didn't allow the evidence be heard likely because there was no evidence (conjecture). It's the standard desperation you get from someone losing a case or appealing a loss.