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Nike announced Friday night that it has suspended [as opposed to fired] its relationship with basketball player Kyrie Irving, 30, due to his anti-Semitic scumbaggery depicted in his social media post about a book and move containing anti-Semitic tropes.
According to the company it will no longer launch Irving's new shoe, the Kyrie 8, which had been scheduled for release on November 8th, Election Day.
"At Nike, we believe there is no place for hate speech and we condemn any form of anti-Semitism," Nike said in a prepared statement. "We are deeply saddened and disappointed by the situation and its impact on everyone."
Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai had been hearing pleas from the public to do something about the anti-Semite, including those from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Nets GM Sean Marks. Tsai went along with the majority of the public that Irving's refusal to condemn the Jew hatred in the film was grounds to suspend him.
Sources said that Tsai was slow to educate the basketball player on the horror of anti-Semitism and called on the Anti-Defamation League counsel to help him with this issue with the full 3 1/2 hours of Jew hating bile in the movie Irving had shared, "Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America."
The movie was like an Iranian inspired piece of crap featuring Holocaust denialism and quoting such scumbags as Adolf Hitler and Henry Ford. It also researched the anti-Semitic Black Hebrew Israelite movement--you may know them as the people who taunted Nick Sandmann and the Covington Catholic High School students in Washington, D.C. a few years ago.
It's more likely the apology, which took a long time in coming, was due to the impact it had, not on Irving's sense of right and wrong, but a sense of his economics, especially since the team said at the time that he is "currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets."
"We were dismayed today, when given an opportunity in a media session, that Kyrie refused to unequivocally say 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," the Nets said in a statement.
"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."
It took him about four hours after the Nets announced his suspension, that he issued an apology, which many, including NBA commissioner Adam Silver, had wanted sooner.
Anyway, Tsai waited for over a week to give Irving a chance to redeem himself but he never did. On Thursday, the team suspended Irving for 5 games without pay, but that will probably have no great effect on him because hatred doesn't get better over time without a lot of introspection. The guy wasn't even willing to answer "no" when asked if he held anti-Semitic beliefs.
Eventually Irving issued a half-assed apology on Instagram, which wasn't really an apology:
"To All Jewish families and Communities that are hurt and affected from my post, I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize. I initially reacted out of emotion to being unjustly labeled Anti-Semitic, instead of focusing on the healing process of my Jewish Brothers and Sisters that were hurt from the hateful remarks made in the Documentary. I want to clarify any confusion on where I stand fighting against Anti- semitism by apologizing for posting the documentary without context and a factual explanation outlining the specific beliefs in the Documentary I agreed with and disagreed with. I had no intentions to disrespect any Jewish cultural history regarding the Holocaust or perpetuate any hate. I am learning from this unfortunate event and hope we can find understanding between us all."
It's more likely the apology, which took a long time in coming, was due to the impact it had, not on Irving's sense of right and wrong, but a sense of his economics, especially since the team said at the time that he is "currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets."
"We were dismayed today, when given an opportunity in a media session, that Kyrie refused to unequivocally say 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," the Nets said in a statement.
"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."
It took him about four hours after the Nets announced his suspension, that he issued an apology, which many, including NBA commissioner Adam Silver, had wanted sooner.
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His deal with Nike was set to expire on October 1, 2023, one that he had since 2014. His deal was almost as lucrative as the Communist China favorite LeBron James.
"At Nike, we believe there is no place for hate speech and we condemn any form of antisemitism," Nike said in its announcement. "We are deeply saddened and disappointed by the situation and its impact on everyone."
So Irving can apologize all he wants but he cannot change his spots.
