Thursday, Nets’ guard Kyrie Irving tweeted out a link to the movie “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” a film based on a controversial book of the same name that is viewed as antisemitic (if you want the details, Rolling Stone magazine broke it down).
Both the Nets and team owner Joe Tsai quickly condemned Irving’s action.
The Nets released this statement: “The Brooklyn Nets strongly condemn and have no tolerance for the promotion of any form of hate speech. We believe that in these situations, our first action must be open, honest dialogue. We thank those, including the ADL, who have been supportive during this time.”
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.
— Joe Tsai (@joetsai1999) October 29, 2022
Tsai also said, “this is bigger than basketball.”
Irving, who pictures himself as an iconoclast and outside-the-box thinker, sometimes comes off more as someone sucked in by sad conspiracy theories. The best known of those was when he said he believed the earth was flat (something he later apologized for). However, just before training camp this year, Irving shared a video from Alex Jones, the poster child for conspiracy theories who called the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting a hoax, something he is paying millions for now after being sued by the child victims of that shooting.
After missing most of last season due to his not being vaccinated and the New York City vaccine mandate, Irving is back on the court this season for the 1-4 Brooklyn Nets, averaging 29.6 points per game.
