TNT NBA analyst Charles Barkley has joined the chorus of voices calling for Nets guard Kyrie Irving to be disciplined by the league for posting a link to a film based on a book that contained antisemitic material.
On Tuesday night’s edition of Inside the NBA on TNT, Barkley called Irving an “idiot” who likely got his head coach (Steve Nash) fired. Barkley also shared his opinion that Irving should be suspended.
“I think he should have been suspended. I think Adam [Silver] should have suspended him,” Barkley asserted.
Barkley continued, “First of all, Adam’s Jewish. You can’t take my $40 million dollars and insult my religion. If you’re going to insult me, you have the right, but I have the right to say, ‘no, you’re not going to take my 40 million dollars and insult my religion.’
“I think the NBA made a mistake. We have suspended people and fined people who have made homophobic slurs – and that was the right thing to do. I think if you insult the black community, you should be suspended or fined heavily, depending. I saw they did the same thing to the kid in Minnesota this year [Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards] when he made the gay slur. I think you should get suspended or fined.”
In a tweet since deleted, Irving posted the Amazon link to the 2018 film “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America.”
The film claims to reveal “the true identity of the Children of Israel” and expose “what Islam, Judaism, and Christianity has covered up for centuries in regards to the true biblical identity of the so-called ‘Negro’ in this movie packed with tons of research.”
The film also claims that European and Arab slave traders have lied to blacks about their heritage to keep them confused and disillusioned.
However, according to Rolling Stone, the 2015 book that shares the same name as the movie released in 2018 is “stuffed with antisemitic tropes.” The book also, according to Rolling Stone, says that “many famous high-ranking Jews” have “admitted” to “worship[ing] Satan or Lucifer.”
“The Brooklyn Nets strongly condemn and have no tolerance for the promotion of any form of hate speech,” the team announced in a statement. “We believe that in these situations, our first action must be open, honest dialogue. We thank those, including the ADL [Anti-Defamation League], who have been supportive during this time.”
Nets Owner Joe Tsai took to Twitter to condemn his star guard’s actions.
“I’m disappointed that Kyrie appears to support a film based on a book full of anti-semitic disinformation,” Tsai wrote. 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.”
Tsai added, “This is bigger than basketball.”
Kyrie Irving has steadfastly maintained that he did not intend to offend anyone and has defended his right to post freely on social media.
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