Earlier this month Brooklyn Nets Kyrie incinerated his pro basketball career after refusing to say he was not antisemitic after promoting the 'Hebrews to Negros: Wake Up Black America' documentary to his 7 million Instagram followers [click here if you missed that].
After a meeting with the NBA Commissioner Kyrie is on his way to redemption...
From The NBA
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has “no doubt” that suspended Brooklyn guard Kyrie Irving is not antisemitic, he said at a conference on Thursday, while LeBron James took to Twitter to defend his former teammate whose status with the Nets remains a mystery.
Those developments followed Nike co-founder Phil Knight telling CNBC, in an interview that aired earlier Thursday, that the relationship between the shoe giant and Irving is likely severed for good.
Silver met with Irving earlier this week, and he told attendees at the Sports Business Journal Dealmakers Conference in Washington that he came away from that conversation believing the situation is “incredibly unfortunate.”
“I personally, based on what he said directly to me, have no doubt that he’s not antisemitic,” Silver said. “But I think there’s a process that he’s going to now need to go through.”
Irving’s suspension with the Nets will last at least five games. He’s already missed four, and in theory could return Sunday when Brooklyn visits the Lakers. It’s unclear when the Nets will reinstate him.
Nets general manager Sean Marks said Wednesday he had not spoken with Irving during his suspension.
Silver told The New York Times on Thursday that he’s never known Irving to use antisemitic or hate speech, but added, “Whether or not he is antisemitic is not relevant to the damage caused by the posting of hateful content.”
The content was a since-deleted tweet posted by Irving last month with a link to a documentary called, “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” which includes Holocaust denial and conspiracy theories about Jews. In a contentious postgame interview session a couple days later, Irving defended his right to post what he wants.
The fallout was massive: Irving was criticized by Silver and several anti-hate groups including the Anti-Defamation League, the Nets eventually suspended Irving and then Nike announced last Friday that it “suspended” its relationship with Irving and canceled its plans to release his next signature shoe.
“I would doubt that we go back,” Nike co-founder Phil Knight said in the CNBC interview that aired Thursday. “But I don’t know for sure.”
