Commissioner of the NBA
Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, has criticized Kyrie Irving for what he calls a lack of remorse after the Brooklyn Nets star was seen promoting a film with antisemitic stereotypes. Later, the athlete would not explicitly state if he is antisemitic.
The NBA, including Nets owner Joe Tsai, Hall of Famers Charles Berkley and Shaquille O’Neal, had criticised Irving for sharing a link to the movie Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America on his Twitter page the previous week. According to Rolling Stone, the documentary is based on a book that asserts that “several high-ranking Jews have testified to worshipping Satan and Lucifer.”
The maker of the movie denies the existence of the Holocaust and uses a fictitious remark from Adolf Hitler to advance an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
Irving declared on Wednesday that he is against to all types of hatred and that the Brooklyn Nets and he would each contribute $500,000 to organisations that fight it.
Silver stated in a statement on Thursday
That Kyrie Irving “made a foolish choice to share a link to a DVD containing extremely inflammatory antisemitic content.”
“I am unhappy that he has not followed through on his promise to work with the Anti-Defamation League in the battle against antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, even though we are glad that he pledged to do so. extended an unqualified apology and specifically criticised the offensive and damaging material in the movie he chose to promote.
Kyrie Irving
Irving did not explicitly address the issue of whether he holds antisemitic views while speaking to reporters immediately after Silver’s comments was made public.
“I’ll say it one more. Because you guys keep asking me the same things, I’m not sure how the term can be justified, Irving added. I can tell you that this won’t turn into a pointless conversation with endless inquiries. You guys heard what I had to say. I honour and embrace people from all walks of life. Where I sit is there. I can’t be anti-Semitic if I understand my origins.