Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has given his views on the actions of Kyrie Irving, who was suspended by the Brooklyn Nets for sharing a link to an anti-semitic film.
Seven-time NBA All-Star Irving took to social media last week to tweet out an Amazon link to a three hour movie titled ‘Hebrews to Ne*****: Wake Up Black America’. Rolling Stone reported the 2018 film is littered with ‘anti-semitic tropes’, which led Brooklyn management to act fast and distance themselves from his actions.
Irving has been suspended without pay for five matches, and has since apologised and promised to "grow" from this incident. And James has responded to the matter, admitting his former team-mates actions were 'harmful'.
The actions of Irving have not gone unnoticed across the NBA, and now the Nets are without both him and Ben Simmons while nursing a 3-6 record. But despite the incident being well documented, it wasn't heavily addressed by many stars across the league.
However, James did break the silence, and although he admitted he couldn't speak for the rest of the league, he did confirm that Irving was in the wrong. "I can’t speak for 450 players," James said before giving his personal thoughts on the matter.
"I can tell you this. It’s simple. Me personally, I don’t condone any hate to any kind. To any race. To Jewish communities, to Black communities, to Asian communities. You guys know where I stand.
"I don’t represent that. There’s no place in this world for it. Nobody can benefit from that, and I believe what Kyrie did caused some harm to a lot of people."
James then continued to stress how important social media platforms are, and reminded Irving about how much damage can be caused to other communities. "He caused some harm, and I think it’s unfortunate," James added.
"But I don’t stand on the position to harm people when it comes to your voice or your platform or anything. So it doesn’t matter what colour your skin is, how tall you are, what position you’re in.
"If you are promoting or soliciting or saying harmful things to any community that harms people, then I don’t respect it. I don’t condone it." After initially refusing to apologise, which then led to his eventual suspension, Irving did eventually take to Instagram to say sorry to those affected.
"While doing research on YHWH, I posted a documentary that contained some false anti-Semitic statements, narratives, and language that were untrue and offensive to the Jewish Race/Religion, and I take full accountability and responsibly for my actions," Irving wrote.
"I am grateful to have a big platform to share knowledge and I want to move forward by having an open dialogue to learn more and grow from this. 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 apologise.
"I had no intentions to disrespect any Jewish cultural history regarding the Holocaust or perpetuate any hate."
