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On Thursday night, Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving apologized to the Jewish community for a retweet of a link to a virulently anti-Semitic film.
Irving had been suspended by the team earlier on Thursday for at least five games for failing to “unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs.”
The problems for Irving started when he shared a link to his millions of followers of a film called “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America” on October 27. After backlash ensued, Irving tweeted, “The ‘Anti-Semitic’ label that is being pushed on me is not justified and does not reflect the reality or truth I live in everyday,” and deleted the original tweet, but didn’t apologize.
On October 28, Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai posted a statement in which he stated, “I’m disappointed that Kyrie appears to support a film based on a book full of anti-semitic disinformation. I want to sit down and make sure he understands this is hurtful to all of us, and as a man of faith, it is wrong to promote hate based on race, ethnicity or religion.”
I’m disappointed that Kyrie appears to support a film based on a book full of anti-semitic disinformation. I want to sit down and make sure he understands this is hurtful to all of us, and as a man of faith, it is wrong to promote hate based on race, ethnicity or religion.
Joe Tsai (@joetsai1999) October 29, 2022
After the Nets’ game on October 29, Irving was asked at a press conference about his “promotion” of the movie though his tweet. He responded, “Will you please stop calling it a promotion? What am I promoting?”
“You put it out on your platform,” the reporter suggested.
“I put it out there just like you put things out there, right?’ Irving declared. “Let’s move on. Don’t dehumanize me up here. … I don’t have to understand anything from you.”
The NBA issued a statement after Irving’s remarks, saying:
Hate speech of any kind is unacceptable and runs counter to the NBA’s values of equality, inclusion and respect.
