NBA's Nets Suspend Kyrie Irving Following Anti-Semitic Behavior

The Brooklyn Nets suspended Kyrie Irving for at least five games without pay on Thursday, saying they were "dismayed" by the NBA star's response after he was criticized for posting a link to anti-semitic material.

The Nets said in a statement they had made repeated efforts to work with Irving on the issue, but finally felt that his "failure to disavow anti-semitism 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."

Irving, 30, had posted a link to an Amazon documentary called "Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America", a 2018 film which contains antisemitic conspiracy theories, and a fabricated quote from Adolf Hitler. The Tweet has since been deleted, but Irving didn't back down from his decision to share the Tweet, and refused to apologize for sharing the film.

"I didn't mean to cause any harm. I'm not the one who made the documentary," Irving told reporters in a press conference on Thursday when asked if he would apologize.

"Where were you when I was a kid figuring out that 300 million of my ancestors are buried in America. Where were you guys asking those same questions when I was a kid learning about the traumatic events of my familial history and what I'm proud to come from," Irving told reporters. "And proud to stand here and why when I repeat myself that I'm not going to stand down, it has nothing to do with dismissing any other race or group people."

"I'm just proud of my heritage and what we've been through and the fact that this has pinned me against the Jewish community and I'm here answering questions of whether or not I'm sorry or not about something I didn't create and was something I shared, and I'm telling everybody I'm taking responsibility, than that's where I sit," he added.

"Those falsehoods are unfortunate," Irving said, referring to content in the film. "And it's not that I don't believe in the Holocaust. I never said that. Never, ever have said it. It's not come out of my mouth. I never Tweeted it. I never liked anything like it. So the Holocaust in itself is an event that means something to a large group of people that suffered something that could have been avoided."

"I'm a beacon of light. I'm not afraid of these mics, these cameras. Any label you put on me I'm able to dismiss because I study. I know the Oxford dictionary."

Kyrie Irving with a lengthy answer on the public reaction to his sharing of an anti-Semitic film on social media: pic.twitter.com/JgG9hOFQiU

— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) November 3, 2022

Irving's suspension comes a day after he and the Brooklyn Nets donated a combined $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League. However, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who is Jewish, said Irving made a "reckless decision" and was disappointed that Irving didn't directly apologize.

"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," the commissioner said.

Silver added that he will meet with Irving within the next week.

"Over the last several 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," the Brooklyn Nets said in their statement.

"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."

"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."