Kyrie Irving has been no stranger to being controversial during his time with the Brooklyn Nets. Turbulence and negative media attention have followed him, with new issues popping up frequently.
Recently, the Brooklyn Nets ended up suspending Kyrie Irving for his promotion of an anti-Semitic movie. In their statement, the franchise claimed that Kyrie Irving is “unfit to be associated” with the team.
Over the last few days, we have made repeated attempts to work with Kyrie Irving to help him understand the harm and danger of his words and actions, which began with him publicizing a film containing deeply disturbing antisemitic hate. We believed that taking the path of education in this challenging situation would be the right one and thought that we had made progress with our joint commitment to eradicating hate and intolerance.
We were dismayed today, when given an opportunity in a media session, that Kyrie refused to unequivocally say that he has no antisemitic beliefs, nor acknowledge specific hateful material in the film. This was not the first time he had the opportunity – but failed – to clarify.
Such failure to disavow antisemitism when given a clear opportunity to do so is deeply disturbing, is against the values of our organization, and constitutes conduct detrimental to the team. Accordingly, we are of the view that he is currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets. We have decided that Kyrie will serve a suspension without pay until he satisfies a series of objective remedial measures that address the harmful impact of his conduct and the suspension period served is no less than five games.
This situation wasn’t necessarily unexpected, as there was like some repercussion coming for Kyrie Irving due to his refusal to clearly disavow antisemitism. However, it is definitely disappointing to see that Kyrie Irving was unwilling to clearly condemn hate speech and negative actions towards Jewish people.
NBA Fans Reacted To Kyrie Irving’s Suspension
Kyrie Irving’s suspension rocked the NBA world, and a lot of NBA fans had something to say about him getting suspended by the Brooklyn Nets. A lot of fans condemned his actions, and some also pointed out that the Brooklyn Nets’ season might be derailed by this happening.
Nets statement pic.twitter.com/8movfKNRdT
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 3, 2022
Nets are finished
It’s mostly that instead of straight up saying he’s not antisemitic and didn’t mean any harm he avoided it and said “I can’t be if i know where i come from”
The Nets are finished KD is a Buck!
It looks like Kyrie played his last game for the nets. I wonder which franchise he will take on a ride next
I don’t believe kyrie will play for them again
he deserves it
Simply not enough. Meyers Leonard has not stepped foot on an NBA court in over 20 months, & probably never will again. This should be no different.
Steve Nash fired, Kyrie suspended, Nets going thru hell this week
On behalf of humanity, thank you for doing the right thing Brooklyn. On behalf of Jazz fans, thanks for the first round pick
Kyrie Irving to the lakers feels destined to happen now. Lakers are desperate. Russel Westbrook and kyrie Irving on the same roster will be the most hilarious and dramatic thing ever
bro gotta go to sensitivity school
Y’all gonna make kyrie retire.
Never saw a team talk about one of their players like this–appreciate the direct wording from Nets PR
Yea Kyrie ain’t coming back to the Nets
Some people in the comments also suggested that Kyrie Irving may end up getting traded to another team. That certainly could be a possibility in the future, especially if the Brooklyn Nets end up wanting to recoup some value for the point guard prior to the trade deadline.
It remains to be seen what Kyrie Irving’s response will be to this announcement. Hopefully, we see him put out a statement soon, but it is unclear when that will end up happening.
