Nets, Tsai upset about Cryrie's promotion of antisemitic book, film

[BringToughnessBack]

Should have apologized right from the beginning. I'm sure he didn't even bother to watch the doco before tweeting it, otherwise he would have realized that publicizing it was unwise. Stubborn and stupid.

Actually, I think he did watch the documentary.  For those who want more details about the documentary (and book it's based on) the Anti-Defamation League has a succinct bullet point list of it's fallacies and bogus theories.

https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/hebrews-negroes-what-you-need-know

I don't think Kyrie is sorry at all.  He seems to believe what the documentary is saying:

A portion of African-Americans are the *real* Israelites from the Bible, and thus are "God's chosen people." 

White Jews have stolen that mantle from these African-Americans, helped push them into slavery in America, and are now running a cabal where they're trying to get rich off of Blacks and one day rule the world.

The Holocaust was somewhat of a marketing ploy to get the rest of the world to feel sorry for the Sephardic, Ashkenazi, and Mizrahi Jews of European descent.

When Kyrie said "I can't be anti-semetic if I know where I come from" he was basically saying "I'M JEWISH, so I can't be anti-semetic."

Irrelevant side point: Did he actually do DNA testing to see if he descends from the purported group of African-Americans who believe they were the Israelites?  Or is he just conflating the theories in the documentary and thinks *all* Black people are "Jewish?"

Back to my main point: Kyrie did not want to apologize, because he's not sorry.  He believes this stuff.

Just like Tucker Carlson promoting "The Great Replacement" theory where some White people believe their livelihoods are being replaced by minorities through lax immigration policies, Kyrie believes that Blacks have been "replaced" by White Jews who have taken their destiny as God's chosen people.

That's why Kyrie wrote in his apology "My Jewish Brothers and Sisters."  He's talking to Black people there, who he believes are the real Jews.  So he's not apologizing to "White Jews" with his latest tweet (in my opinion).

Spot on. He is clearly not apologizing to white jews there. He is beyond reproach and the league should suspend him on top of current suspension .

He clearly does not care about anyone but himself. When I reflect on how Lebron managed his personality it is incredible. Lebron actually gains a few points there as nobody has been able to keep him in check since thst time.

[Kernewek]

Yeah, I guess I don't know the background on this black Jewish theory.  It doesn't seem like a stretch that there were some black Africans who adopted Judaism somewhere along the way.  That there were in fact black Jews.  Not sure if that is true or not but what is the issue?  But to then stretch that to the Holocaust didn't happen or that white Jews are still today trying to oppress or steal something from black Jews or blacks in general seems a little crazy to me.

I can't make any sense out of why some before Christ white people would want to steal a religion from black Africans.  That these white people were practicing some other religion but then decided to "steal" Judaism from the black Africans?  Or is it that they both somehow started practicing the same religion completely independently?  That seems hard to believe. 

And even if something like this happened over 2000 years ago, is this really secretly continuing today?  None of this makes any sense to me but I guess I am not all that well informed.

Question, if a Black person wanted to convert to Judaism, join a Synagogue, practice the religion, is there anything preventing that?  If Kyrie wanted to become a practicing Jew, why couldn't he do that.

Don't want to get too off topic but I read this comment on a defector article yesterday and I think it might offer a bit to illustrate some of the context around this stuff. That said, I'm not the author of the comment, and I'm not black, so this could be total nonsense. But it did connect some of the dots for me.

“Antisemitism exists in the black community for the same reason it exists in the white community”

Black person here. Love the piece overall but I have to take issue with this. The resentment of Jewish people has some unique characteristics in the black community. It really in my opinion comes from the similarities between anti blackness and anti Semitism. We’ve both faced discrimination for a really long time and it has influenced the unique subculture we have in America in a way similar to nationality with much more negative reasons for it beyond say Italian Americans (not to say they didn’t face discrimination too, it just didn’t last as long).

But Jewish people have some advantages black people haven’t gotten. Not to get too into the weeds of another issue but the US government has funded a Jewish nation state to way more than the closest black American equivalent Liberia. Jewish people have better quality of life and economic circumstances than black people. US schools are much better at teaching the worst thing that happened to Jewish people, the Holocaust, than (probably not coincidentally) the stuff that was done to black people, slavery (and for Kyrie the indigenous genocide).

Kyrie is pretty much an example of the worst way this can take shape. Extolling Hitler and using his brief use of blacks as pawns to his own ends to associate black people with some powerful white man in history.

https://defector.com/theres-nothing-worth-defending-about-kyrie-irving-spreading-antisemitism/

[dannyboy35]

  It cracks me up that that any so called “ holy” book has a “ vhosen people.”  So this gif was racist? Ok got it. Silliness.

[cman88]

It's ironic to me that the same players who wear "defeat racism" etc. And go on tv promoting equality during the BLM protests a couple of years ago are now silent when there is blatant racism and antisemitism. Or actually defending Kyrie.

Just shows a hypocrisy. You should be against ALL racism. Not be selective depending on the race.

[ozgod]

ESPN has a story from Woj and Shelburne on how the whole Cryrie suspension went down and why it took 5 days. Here are some snippets:

For several agonizing days, the pleas had grown into a crescendo for Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai to punish star guard Kyrie Irving. The most important and invested voices in his orbit -- including NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Nets general manager Sean Marks -- had sided with a broad swath of the public in believing that Irving's refusal to condemn the contents of an antisemitic film he shared on his social media had left the Nets no choice but to suspend him, sources told ESPN.

Against the backdrop of calls for swift action, sources said Tsai had resisted and insisted on taking time to educate Irving on the horrors of antisemitism. He'd enlisted the counsel of the Anti-Defamation League, watched the full 3½ hours of the hate-filled movie Irving had shared, "Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America" -- complete with its Holocaust denialism and quoting of antisemites such as Adolf Hitler and Henry Ford -- and researched the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, whose beliefs Irving frequently references in public settings.

As it turned out, the redemptive arc that Tsai had imagined for his star had devolved into what the owner felt was a repetitive exercise in Irving's betrayal of good faith, sources said. For nearly a week, Tsai kept extending the clock to give Irving a chance to get this right for himself, the franchise and the Jewish community -- and Irving never returned a single of his text messages, sources said. Almost a week later, Irving had shown no inclination to deliver an apology, nor a disassociation of the movie's contents, nor a willingness to answer "No," when asked if he held antisemitic beliefs.

Silver's patience on letting the Nets handle the matter had run out on Thursday morning, sources said. What had started as a humiliation for the Nets had become a full-scale embarrassment and crisis for the league. Silver issued a piercing condemnation of Irving's failure to offer "an unqualified apology and more specifically denounce the vile and harmful content contained in the film he chose to publicize."

Before the Nets on Thursday took off for a weekend trip to play the Washington Wizards and the Charlotte Hornets, Irving had walked over to an assembled group of media and again refused to apologize or condemn the film. Asked if he held antisemitic beliefs, Irving responded, "I cannot be antisemitic if I know where I come from."

For Tsai, that was it. No more. Irving's refusal to disavow antisemitism and Holocaust denial convinced him Irving had been insincere in his joint ADL statement hours earlier, sources said. The efforts to educate had failed miserably, Tsai's faith in Irving proving once more to have been misguided and ultimately disastrous for his franchise.

Four hours after learning of his suspension, Irving issued a statement on his Instagram page that went further than he had gone in the previous week.

"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 apologize," Irving wrote.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/34948105/inside-high-wire-decision-suspend-brooklyn-nets-star-kyrie-irving
[/quote]

[cons]

does anyone believe kyrie is truly sorry?

[Celtics2021]

does anyone believe kyrie is truly sorry?

Nope.  And I completely believe he’ll show his lack of remorse with a repeat of these words and actions before the season is our:

[gouki88]

does anyone believe kyrie is truly sorry?

Not at all.

[RJ87]

does anyone believe kyrie is truly sorry?

Of course he's not. He only apologized because he got suspended and he's been on thin ice with Nike dating back to last season. He's just trying to protect his pockets.

[Goldstar88]

Wrong thread

[Ed Monix]

Nike is suspending its relationship with Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving, the company said in an emailed statement to CNN Friday.

"At Nike, we believe there is no place for hate speech and we condemn any form of antisemitism," the statement says. "To that end, we've made the decision to suspend our relationship with Kyrie Irving effective immediately and will no longer launch the Kyrie 8. We are deeply saddened and disappointed by the situation and its impact on everyone."

[celticsclay]

I’m curious how much longer kyrie is in the nba at this point. He always talked about retiring young. He seems really unhinged and out of touch. Is this the end?

[CelticsWhat35]

Nike is suspending its relationship with Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving, the company said in an emailed statement to CNN Friday.

"At Nike, we believe there is no place for hate speech and we condemn any form of antisemitism," the statement says. "To that end, we've made the decision to suspend our relationship with Kyrie Irving effective immediately and will no longer launch the Kyrie 8. We are deeply saddened and disappointed by the situation and its impact on everyone."

So they’re suspending it, not terminating it?  So is this in essence just delaying the release of his sneaker until a future date?  If so, then what stand are they actually taking?  Now would just be bad for business to release the sneaker.  Seems like they’re just waiting for everything to die down.

[Celtics2021]

Nike is suspending its relationship with Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving, the company said in an emailed statement to CNN Friday.

"At Nike, we believe there is no place for hate speech and we condemn any form of antisemitism," the statement says. "To that end, we've made the decision to suspend our relationship with Kyrie Irving effective immediately and will no longer launch the Kyrie 8. We are deeply saddened and disappointed by the situation and its impact on everyone."

So they’re suspending it, not terminating it?  So is this in essence just delaying the release of his sneaker until a future date?  If so, then what stand are they actually taking?  Now would just be bad for business to release the sneaker.  Seems like they’re just waiting for everything to die down.

Could be that, or it could be a contractual thing where they can’t legally terminate it at this time.

[Big333223]

does anyone believe kyrie is truly sorry?

Not at all.

Well we know he didn't write that latest apology himself because it makes actual sense.