Irving, the Nets guard, and the team said they would each donate $500,000 to “causes and organizations that work to eradicate hate.”
Nets guard Kyrie Irving and the team said Wednesday that they would each donate $500,000 to “causes and organizations that work to eradicate hate and intolerance in our communities” after Irving posted a link on Twitter to an antisemitic documentary last week.
The donations were announced in a joint statement from the Nets, Irving and the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit organization that fights antisemitism.
“I am aware of the negative impact of my post towards the Jewish community and I take responsibility,” Irving said in the statement. “I do not believe everything said in the documentary was true or reflects my morals and principles.”
Irving added that he “meant no harm to any one group, race or religion of people, and wish to only be a beacon of truth and light.”
Irving initially defended the post during a contentious postgame news conference Saturday, but he removed the post Sunday.
The Nets declined to comment when asked if Irving would face any discipline from the team. The N.B.A. did not respond when asked if Irving would face discipline from the league.
Shortly after Irving posted the link to the documentary to Twitter, the N.B.A. and its players’ union released separate statements that condemned antisemitism but did not name Irving, who is a vice president in the union.
The union said it was “committed to helping players fully understand that certain words can lead to hateful ideologies being spread.” The N.B.A.’s statement said that the league would work on “identifying and combating” hate speech.
Only the Nets owner Joe Tsai identified Irving by name in a statement he posted Friday on Twitter.
“I’m disappointed that Kyrie appears to support a film based on a book full of antisemitic disinformation,” Tsai said. “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.”
On Saturday, Irving defended posting the link to the movie, saying “history is not supposed to be hidden from anybody.”
He said he found the documentary by searching on the Amazon website for the word “yahweh,” the Hebrew word for God.
“Did I do anything illegal?” Irving said. “Did I hurt anybody? Did I harm anybody? Am I going out and saying that I hate one specific group of people?”
He added later: “I’m not going to stand down on anything I believe in. I’m only going to get stronger. Because I’m not alone. I have a whole army around me.”
The Nets did not make him available to reporters after home games on Monday and Tuesday, in violation of league rules. Nets General Manager Sean Marks said on Tuesday that Irving was not speaking to reporters because the team did not “want to cause more fuss right now, more interaction with people.” He also acknowledged that Irving’s news conference on Saturday did not go well.
Marks said Tuesday that Irving had not been disciplined by the team because the Nets were having conversations with the Anti-Defamation League.
“There’s an education piece for everybody here,” Marks said. “There’s an empathetic piece to this and understanding that we need to move on and we need to do the right thing without a doubt.”
Marks was asked Tuesday night how he would respond to Nets fans who did not want to root for the team anymore.
“Look, it’s understandable,” Marks said. “I’m completely empathetic to what’s going on here. I’m certainly not proud of the situation we find ourselves in.”
The Nets lost to the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday, dropping them to a record of 2-6. The game was broadcast on TNT. Three former players who are part of TNT’s broadcast team sharply criticized Irving for his post and the league and its players for their responses. Shaquille O’Neal called Irving an “idiot,” Charles Barkley said the league should have suspended him and Reggie Miller criticized other players for not speaking out against Irving’s post.
Source: Basketball - nytimes.com
