Anti Semitic Comments from Kyrie Irving

Kyrie gets the ball, he shoots his shot, and he misses the game winner for the championship!

Due to recent statements on anti semitism from Kyrie Irving, a professional basketball player on the Brooklyn Nets, he is facing criticism from fans and the media. He got suspended from the NBA for a couple of days and on Nov. 20, he played his first game back. He had missed eight games due to the suspension.

On Oct. 27, Irving posted a link on Twitter to an anti semitic movie regarding Jewish people which claims that they are lying about their origins. Irving was going to rent the movie on Amazon and posted a screenshot of a page on Instagram. The NBA saw this and contacted Amazon to take the page down.

In a press conference a couple of days later, Irving said, “I am aware of the negative impact of my post towards the Jewish community, and I take responsibility,” but he never apologized for his actions, and as a result, got suspended from the NBA on Nov. 3. NBA commissioner Adam Silver talked to Irving later and said, “I am disappointed that he has not offered an unqualified apology to more specifically denounced the vile and harmful content contained in the film he chose the publicize.”

Hours after he was suspended, Irving went onto Instagram and apologized. In his apology, he explained that it was wrong to spread hate towards Jewish people and that he reacted out of emotion. His former teammate, Lebron James, says that Irving’s apology should be good enough to let him back in the NBA.

Even though his apology wasn’t late, his deals and relationships with Nike were deteriorating by that time. Nike had ended its relationship with Irving on Nov. 4. When asked about their cut ties, they said, “At Nike, we believe there is no place for hate speech and we condemn any form of anti semitism.”

Irving was unsuspended from the NBA on Nov. 20, and fans are not liking him back in the Nets arena. In New York, there are around one million Jewish people, and many do not support Kyrie Irving in any way. A fan in Brooklyn was asked about Irving and his apology and he said that it was an improvement, “but I don’t want him on the team anymore.”

There are fans who don’t want him on the team anymore, and there are fans who support Irving. At his first game back, outside of the Nets arena, there were people wearing purple shirts with the logo of Israel United In Christ and handed out anti semitic literature to passers-by. These people are considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Irving later went on live TV and apologized for the anti-semitic comments made and the link posted on Twitter. “I just want to offer my deep apologies to all those who are impacted over these last few weeks. Specifically my Jewish relatives. My black relatives. You know, all races and cultures.” As of right now, with the hate and support towards Irving, his future in the NBA is currently a big question mark.