NBA commissioner Adam Silver doesn’t appear satisfied with the steps Kyrie Irving has taken since publishing a social media post last week promoting an antisemitic film, issuing a statement today to announce that he intends to meet with the Nets star in person to discuss the situation.
“Kyrie Irving made a reckless decision to post a link to a film containing deeply offensive antisemitic material,” Silver said. “While we appreciate the fact that he agreed to work with the Brooklyn Nets and the Anti-Defamation League to combat antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, I am disappointed that he has not offered an unqualified apology and more specifically denounced the vile and harmful content contained in the film he chose to publicize.
“I will be meeting with Kyrie in person in the next week to discuss this situation.”
After Irving posted a link to the film in question on Thursday, he faced increasing scrutiny in the days that followed and had a combative exchange with reporters on Saturday about the issue. He removed the post on Sunday and the Nets held him out of media sessions on Monday and Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Irving, the Nets, and the ADL issued a joint statement announcing that Kyrie and the Nets would each donate $500K “toward causes and organizations that work to eradicate hate and intolerance in our communities.”
Irving said in that statement that he opposes “all forms of hatred and oppression” and stands with marginalized communities, adding that he took responsibility for the impact his post had toward the Jewish community and didn’t believe everything in the film he publicized. However, as Silver’s announcement today notes, the Nets guard didn’t apologize for promoting the film or for the harm he caused the Jewish community.
There has been no indication in the last week that the Nets or the NBA intend to fine or suspend Irving for his actions, and today’s statement from Silver doesn’t suggest that will change. Still, it seems that the league isn’t prepared to sweep the issue under the rug so quickly.
I don’t care if they meet in person. If they don’t suspend and fine the jerk, they are condoning his words and actions.
Jerk? He already got fined and apologized.
Excuse me, you DONT think Kyrie Irving is a jerk??? He’s the biggest jerk in history, just like all these phony “free thinkers” are the biggest jerks in history.
Biggest jerk in history?! Go study some history bud, hyperbole like this shows extreme ignorance.
Free thinkers peddle racism?
As far as I’ve seen, he’s done neither. Donating money to the Anti-Defamation League is not the same as being fined and saying he’s sorry if he offended anyone is a hollow, self-serving BS statement. Anyone having trouble with that, I’ll clear it up for ya. “Sorry, not sorry” is what he’s saying.
Eff that idiot
@ styles:
FYI, he never apologized. “I take responsibility” is not an apology.
Ohh “ Gumby” err Silver will probably have a tea party with him and ask him politely not to do it again. He will leave what is left of his spine at the door.
He’s already been suspended.
Good take though.
That’s the thing! Kyrie never met with them! He had someone else go.
I watched him some when he first came to the Cavs, pre-Lebron return.
He was a ball hog. Didn’t play D. Ignored his coach and teammates. When LeBron came in he got mad because he felt the Cavs were “his team”.
Then he appears to have screwed around with the Celtics – a organization with a reputation for playing team basketball.
Realizing the couldn’t win anything and had no leadership qualities at all he got his buddy Durant to go with him to Brooklyn. Still nothing. So the 2 losers blamed it on Harden, then the coach.
The me-first showoff hotdogs in all pro sports have some commonalities: 1) They aren’t a fraction as good as they think they are; 2) They believe teammates exist to do the dirty work they don’t want to do; 3) Fans and owners are fortunate to watch them play; 4) In addition to living a fantasy world, they’re incredibly disrespectful to others, immature, as well as incredibly ignorant.
The single dumbest player in NBA history, everybody…
Guess you’re a huge Miles Bridges fan as well, do you have to always just make these statements? I mean look at others before who have made stupid decisions, I’m not defending Kyrie either. Just don’t understand how you make these blanket statements
Look, it was a terrible inaccurate message in the movie for sure, and I don’t suppose the film makers in the least. That said, if the movie resonates with Kyrie, so be it. His mistake was posting it. He knows he’s already being scrutinized for almost everything he does, and rightfully so in many cases. Because he’s being watched so closely, he should have just kept it off of social media. Have conversations about it with friends, contact the film producers to give them your thoughts, watch it 100 times, whatever. Just keep it out of the public.
I do hate that free speech doesn’t exist any longer, but a movie that blatantly lies about what happened in WW2 is something that probably isn’t a good look to support publicly if you’re a high profile person.
Another person who doesn’t know what “free speech” means.
Free speech has never been protected when it comes to private corporations, it has to do with government interference. If I work for an insurance company and post on Twitter about how much I love the KKK the insurance company I work for can fire me. If Hoopsrumors doesn’t like this comment they can take it down or ban me.
Not complicated stuff.
It’s always fascinating to observe U.S. Americans advocate for private companies’ arbitrary rule in lieu of their employees constitutional rights. A deterrent example of what happens when a society, based on centuries of slave labor and exploitation, misses the Age of Enlightenment.
In civilized countries, an employees’ private affairs and views are of no concern of the employer. Irving privately liking a movie, sold on Amazon, constitutes such a matter.
Again, in the civilized world, any company interfering in their employees’ private matters would be taught hard lessons in labor and possibly criminal court.
@ Waldfee:
“Irving privately liking a movie, sold on Amazon, constitutes such a matter.”
Posting a link to 21 million followers is in no way whatsoever “private”.
It’s still Irving’s private opinion and none of his employer’s business, no matter how many people listen to him.
Btw., why not go after a guy like Bezos, who profits directly from this oh-so hateful movie? Could it have to do with the fact that he’s white, rich and very influential?
@waldfee It’s always fascinating to me when stating a fact is considered “advocating” for something.
I can know what the rules are and still not agree with them. I have worked for myself for 2o years in large part because I would never give someone else control over me.
Ignorance of what constitutes “free speech” is rampant.
Is there any difference between hate speech and free speech and should there be a distinction in your eyes? I truly think free speech heavily exists, particularly when you have people openly advocating and promoting bigotry in the US (and I’m not even referring to Kyrie in this instance).
Free speech is a common occurrence of every day life in America, often mixed with hate speech and when someone calls them out for bigotry it becomes a discussion of “censoring” instead of educating people.
Like others have said you don’t understand how free speech works. Free doesn’t apply to private entities for the purpose of employment. It keeps the government from restricting it but not your company or employer from disciplining or firing you.
Its frightening how few americans get that.
I’ll add to this. It also doesn’t apply to private companies like Twitter or Facebook. If those companies say you are not allowed to use the word “purple,” they are allowed to ban anyone who uses that word. It amazes me how often people freak out and claim their rights are being violated when a social media company removes a comment.
“That said, if the movie resonates with Kyrie, so be it.”
Why is it so hard for people like you to wrap your head around calling out bigots for being bigoted? Kyrie posted a tacit endorsement of an antisemitic movie and believes antisemitic theories about “true” Jews. People trashing him for believing that garbage are not infringing on any of Kyrie’s rights.
Share bigotry, get ripped and mocked by everyone else. It’s called “consequences”. Kyrie is free to continue being a dumb bigot and we’re free to call him out. This is very simple stuff.
Racism resonates with some people. It’s okay for them to share it with millions?
Sources say Kyrie never actually met with the ADL, instead he sent a proxy. Kyrie doesn’t care at! He hasn’t changed his mind and he certainly doesn’t care that what he did was harmful! Kyrie is the worst!
Why is Silver waiting? Kyrie has not apologized and made inane statements today. He and Kanye West are in lock step and anti semites.
Silver should have him in his office immediately. Real shame. In addition kyrie did not meet in person with ADL. Sent a lackey.
Exactly!!!
Silver is constantly labeled as the best commissioner around but he’s so weak at times
maybe by comparison
No.
its nice to see everyone agreeing on this topic and not at all weird
Quick question: Do you think Kyrie will lose his ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine sponsorships over this?
Genuinely funny
And this idiot wants Jeannie Buss to give him a job.
Who know maybe she will do it, but then again Klutch runs that dumpster fire
And is long overdue for Nike to just do the right thing and cancel the Kyrie line, which will likely be expensive even for the mighty swoosh.
I’m far from the first person to come to Kyrie’s defense, and I in NO WAY support any piece of media that denies the Holocaust, but I will say this: there should be a distinction between tweeting a link to a long-form piece of content that contains clips that are highly offensive and actually stating or believing that highly offensive portion.
Furthermore, if this content is truly this reprehensible (disclosure: I haven’t watched the movie or read the book) then it needs to be removed from the LARGEST RETAILER in the world?
If the guy is denying the Holocaust he should be removed from retail, and not going after the person/people who are directly profiting from these claims and saving all your energy for Kyrie’s now deleted tweet is kind of weird, no?
And you can say “Well it’s not in the NBA’s jurisdiction,” but this hasn’t stopped players and league officials from supporting all types of boycott movements in the past.
And while we’re discussing inequities here … does anyone think that Kyrie would be getting this type of blowback if he, IDK, tweeted something that promoted the denial of the Armenian Genocide?
We know he wouldn’t, because we have people sitting in our Congress who are on record denying it. But apparently in this country the genocide of certain groups of people is highly recognized and protected, while for others it still hardly even seems to matter, which is an unfortunate side-plot to all of this.
You are promoting something by sharing it on social media. He didn’t condemn the views in it.
“But apparently in this country the genocide of certain groups of people is highly recognized and protected, while for others it still hardly even seems to matter”
You could have left out the word “apparently” That’s definitely how it is and always has been.
every part of this is textbook whataboutism. whether or not the movie or book is available at amazon is completely separate from the fact that Kyrie tweeted a link to it. If you want to attack Amazon for making the movie available, bring up other causes discuss the Armenian genocide etc that’s fine but that doesn’t excuse Kyrie for what he did. And bringing up those things just more subterfuge to distract from what Kyrie did
Or it’s the opposite? Making this issue solely about Kyrie Irving is distracting from the fact that Amazon, one of the world’s largest corporations, is now peddling in Holocaust denial films?
And it’s distracting from the fact that OTHER genocides are routinely swept under the rug. When people do something stupid like deny genocide it can be a helpful reminder that genocide has been more routine in human history than we like to admit.
But people who don’t really care about ACTUALLY combatting racism and bigotry go for the Page Six story, and say let’s keep it about a basketball player’s tweets.
And actually addressing the SYSTEMIC issues at play becomes “what aboutism”.
Banning books is a tad different from a company telling their employee they can be fired or fined for what they say on social media. I know I don’t want Amazon to decide what I can or cannot read. I am sure Kyrie doesn’t want the Nets or the NBA telling him what he can say either, but they do pay him and all. It comes with the territory and we all know that. It’s in almost any employment contract that one can be fired for making public statements. I do agree with your overarching point though.
not in this case it doesn’t and it isn’t the opposite. Those are separate equally important issues that you are using to try and distract from what Kyrie said. Both are wrong/disgusting and deserve every ounce of criticism, comment, exploration, discussion etc. but one doesn’t excuse the other. systematic issues along with the others you brought up should absolutely be addressed and be part of the public discourse but using them as shield for criticism against Kyrie is Whataboutism and it is unequivocally wrong.
Here’s the problem in a nutshell.. Kyrie is literally too stupid to understand he’s a bigot. He actually believes he’s just telling “the truth” about history. He literally believes Jews should be put to death because they are somehow responsible for slavery… this is what the man believes, and has zero clue the impact of that thought, how insanely wrong it is, or how hurtful, dangerous, and antagonizing he’s being. I am Jewish… yesterday a random person started screaming at me in German when they overheard me talking about this crap. Kanye West, Kyrie Irving.. YOU ARE DOING THE BIDDING OF EVERY RACIST ON EARTH.
The lazers man, yhe lazers.
Can we all take a minute to marvel just at how braindead stupid you’ve got to be to post antisemitic garbage when your “boss” the commissioner is Jewish. Seriously that alone should show the mental deficiency at work here with Kyrie.
Irving’s legacy- went to Duke on scholarship, claimed injury, never played. Drafted by Cavs, was nothing special until Lebron got there, is remembered for one shot. Whined until they got rid of him. Spent 3 years with Celtics, was divisive the whole time, claimed injuries the first two years, missed the playoffs as Celts went to Eastern finals, played in next year’s finals and led them to 1st round exit. Left Boston after saying he wanted to stay there, chose to play with Durant, again “injured” much of the time, led Nets to 2 lousy seasons, helped get coach fired by not playing half of season because of not being vaccinated. Now proving what a jerk he is by his anti-semitic comments, and not man enough to really apologize and take responsibility. Quite a resume!