Brooklyn Nets basketball player Kyrie Irving on Saturday defended a controversial social media post he made in recent days, and urged a reporter not to "dehumanize" him during an exchange at a press conference.
Speaking to reporters, Irving addressed a tweet that he posted on Thursday about the 2018 film Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, which is based on a 2015 book of the same name. Rolling Stone first reported on Irving's post on Friday, writing that the film Irving tweeted about is "stuffed with antisemitic tropes."
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), said on Twitter that Irving's post was "troubling" and that the "book and film he promotes trade in deeply #antisemitic themes including those promoted by dangerous sects of the Black Hebrew Israelites movement."
Meanwhile, Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai also condemned Irving's tweet on Friday, writing: "I'm disappointed that Kyrie appears to support a film based on a book full of anti-semitic disinformation. 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."
I’m disappointed that Kyrie appears to support a film based on a book full of anti-semitic disinformation. 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.
— Joe Tsai (@joetsai1999) October 29, 2022
According to ESPN, addressing the tweet at the press conference, Irving said: "I'm not here to argue over a person or a culture or a religion and what they believe."
"Did I do anything illegal? Did I hurt anybody? Did I harm anybody? Am I going out and saying that I hate one specific group of people? So out of all of the judgment that people got for me posting, without talking to me, and then I respect what Joe [Tsai] said, but there has a lot to do with not ego or pride of how proud I am to be [of] African heritage, but also to be living as a free Black man here in America, knowing the historical complexities for me to get here," he continued.
He then added: "I'm not going to stand down on anything that I believe in. I'm only going to get stronger because I'm not alone. I have a whole army around me."
In an exchange that has gone viral on Twitter, ESPN reporter Nick Friedell asked Irving why he decided to "promote something that Alex Jones said." ESPN reported that the basketball star shared a video of Jones on social media last month. Jones, the founder of Infowars, was recently ordered to hand over more than $1 billion in damages to the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting, after falsely claiming that the massacre was a hoax.
“Can you please stop calling it a promotion? What am I promoting?… Don’t dehumanize me up here.”
Kyrie Irving and Nick Friedell have an exchange during the Nets postgame press conference.
(via @_Talkin_NBA)pic.twitter.com/7oUmmSL05U
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) October 30, 2022
"I do not stand with Alex Jones' position, narrative, court case that he had with Sandy Hook, or any of the kids that felt like they had to relive trauma, or parents that had to relive trauma, or to be dismissive to all the lives that were lost during that tragic event," Irving said.
"My post was a post from Alex Jones that he did in the early '90s or late '90s about secret societies in America of occults. And it's true," Irving added. "So I wasn't identifying with anything of being a [campaigner] for Alex Jones or anything."
Friedell then said, "To follow up on the promotion of the movie and the book," before Irving interjected.
"Can you please stop calling it promotion. What am I promoting?" he asked.
"You put it out on your platform," Friedell said.
"But I'm promoting it?" Irving responded.
"By putting it out there, people are going to say that you're promoting it," Friedell stated.
"I put it out there just like you put things out there, right?...You put things out there for a living right?" Irving asked.
"Right, but my stuff is not filled with antisemitic stuff," Friedell responded.
"Great, so let's move on...Don't dehumanize me up here. I'm another human being, I can post whatever I want so say that and shut it down and move on to the next question," Irving said.
Newsweek has attempted to reach Irving for comment.
In a tweet on Saturday, Irving said he "meant no disrespect to anyone's religious beliefs."
"The 'Anti-Semitic' label that is being pushed on me is not justified and does not reflect the reality or truth I live in everyday. I embrace and want to learn from all walks of life and religions," he wrote.
I am an OMNIST and I meant no disrespect to anyone’s religious beliefs. The “Anti-Semitic” label that is being pushed on me is not justified and does not reflect the reality or truth I live in everyday. I embrace and want to learn from all walks of life and religions.
Hélà🤞🏾♾
— Hélà (@KyrieIrving) October 29, 2022
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