Kyrie Irving is once again the man of the hour in the NBA. And, as usual, not for the best reasons. The Brooklyn Nets star was one of the biggest stories last season due to his refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine. He was also involved in some rumors during the offseason and now is back at it after posting an unfortunate tweet that included a movie full of antisemitism.
Amid all the controversy surrounding Kanye West and his anti-Semitic remarks, Kyrie shared a movie on Twitter called “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America”, which upset a lot of people, including Nets owner Joe Tsai, who said he was very disappointed in Kyrie.
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.
Kyrie responded to these accusations on social media, saying he wasn’t hating on any religion or race, as he wants to learn from everything in life.
Kyrie Irving Defended Himself Against Reporter Saying He Promoted An Anti-Semitic Movie
After the Brooklyn Nets lost their fifth game of the season against the Indiana Pacers, the post-game conference was one of the most tense and entertaining in years. Ben Simmons claimed this team can become the best in the NBA despite this rough start. Kevin Durant also called the team out for the bad performance, but there was no doubt that the main character of the night was Kyrie.
As soon as he sat down, he was asked several questions about his recent activity on social media and what he was thinking when he decided to ‘promote’ this movie. He even talked about the video he shared of Alex Jones, denying that he agreed with anything Jones stood for.
Kyrie had a heated exchange with ESPN’s Nick Friedell too after the reporter kept using the word ‘promotion’ to talk about Kyrie’s tweet that included the movie. Irving didn’t like any of that and fired back at Friedell.
Haven't seen something like this in years oh my https://t.co/2earuBxH2Q
— 𝘾𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙎𝙝𝙪𝙗𝙝 ⁶𓅓 (@OVOLakeShow) October 30, 2022
“Can you please stop calling it a promotion, what am I promoting?” Irving said.
Friedell said that the simple fact that he put it up on his platform was considered a promotion, but Kyrie wasn’t having any of that.
“I just put things out there just like you put things out there,” he added. “You put things out there for a living. Let’s move on. Let’s move on. Don’t dehumanize me up here. I can post whatever I want, so say that, and shut it down and move on to the next question.”
Friedell tried to explain himself to Kyrie, but the player just didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
“I don’t have to understand anything from you,” a visibly upset Irving said. “Move on, next question. Do you guys have any more questions? This is gonna be a clip that he’s gonna marvel at.”
It was pretty clear that Irving was mad and desperately tried to shut Friedell down, which he achieved when another reporter said they had a basketball-related inquiry for him.
The situation in Brooklyn is pretty tense right now. Ben Simmons is playing bad right now and has been accused to be happy to get in foul trouble. The Kevin Durant trade rumors have started to surface again and it could be a matter of time before KD decides he wants out of the team. Now, Kyrie is worsening everything with his activity on social media.
This is nothing like Nets fans pictured this season, but with these three players, you never know what’s coming. Kyrie has stirred the pot once again and everybody is coming after him, which was the last thing the team needed right now.
