NBA commissioner Adam Silver has today issued a statement condemning Kyrie Irving's 'reckless decision' in posting a link to a movie with anti-semitic messages.
Irving caused a Twitter storm earlier in the week after posting a link to a movie last week titled 'Hebrews And Negroes'. The film, written and directed by Ronald Dalton Jr., contains content which many consider to be anti-semitic against the Jewish faith.
The deeply controversial film was released in 2018 and was based on a book of the same name, three years previous, which also contains themes which have been deemed as deeply anti-semitic. When asked by a reporter on why he shared the film, Irving vehemently defended himself, before eventually deleting the tweet.
Irving's team, the Brooklyn Nets, then released a statement after Irving deleted the tweet stating that it 'strongly condemns and has no tolerance for the promotion of any form of hate speech'. He also pledged a $500,000 donation to 'anti-hate' groups.
But Silver believes more should have been done, and said in a statement: "Kyrie Irving made a reckless decision to post a link to a film containing deeply offensive antisemitic material.
"While we appreciate the fact that he agreed to work with the Brooklyn Nets and 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. I will be meeting with Kyrie in person in the next week to discuss this situation."
This week, NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal gave a passionate speech on Irving, brandishing him an 'idiot', whilst fellow Hall of Famer and analyst Charles Barkley called for the league to suspend Irving.
And after the National Basketball Players Association released a statement on 'antisemitism' yesterday, failing to name Kyrie Irving, the league's commissioner has now promised to meet Irving face to face in hopes of finding a resolution to the situation.
