Nets Suspend Kyrie Irving for Refusing to Disavow Antisemitic Beliefs

The Brooklyn Nets have suspended Kyrie Irving without pay after he refused to unequivocally say he had no antisemitic beliefs.

Irving came under fire late last week after posting a link to a film that was based on a book containing antisemitic disinformation.

In a statement on Thursday, the Brooklyn Nets said that Irving’s suspension will last as many as five games after he failed to understand the “harm and danger of his actions.”

“Over the last several days, we have made repeated attempts to work with Kyrie Irving to help him understand the harm and danger of his actions, which began with him publicizing a film containing deeply disturbing anti-Semitic hate,” the team said.

“We believed that taking the path of education in this challenging situation would be the right one and thought that we had made progress with our joint commitment to eradicating hate and intolerance,” it continued. “We were dismayed today, when given an opportunity in a media session, that Kyrie refused to unequivocally say he had no anti-Semitic beliefs. This was not the first time he had the opportunity — but failed — to clarify.”

The statement went on to say that Irving’s failure adequately disavow antisemitism goes against the team’s values and that he is “currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets.”

“We have decided that Kyrie will serve a suspension without pay until he satisfies a series of objective remedial measures that address the harmful impact of his conduct and the suspension period served is no less than five games,” the statement said.

As Breitbart News reported, Kyrie Irving came under fire last week when he referenced the 2018 film Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, which peddles antisemitic conspiracy theories and promotes Black Hebrew Israelite ideology.

The film highlighted “the true identity of the Children of Israel” and “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 alleges that Arab slave traders and white people have lied to blacks about their “true” history as the real Israelites in order to keep black people enslaved. And its source material is a book filled with antisemitic tropes.

Irving initially deleted his tweet and said he had no antisemitic intent before vowing to donate as much as $500,000 to groups dedicated to combatting hate.

However, during a press conference on Thursday, Irving dug himself an even deeper hole when he refused to adequately answer if he holds antisemitic beliefs.

“I cannot be anti-Semitic if I know where I come from,” he said.

Irving also did not disavow the film’s Holocaust denial.