MY ACCOUNT
Kyrie Irving says he will not “stand down” for what he believes in after facing widespread backlash for sharing a film on social media with alleged anti-Semitic connotations.
The 30-year-old tweeted a link to ‘Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America’ on Thursday, with Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai condemning Irving for promoting a film “full of anti-Semitic disinformation”.
The Nets and NBA both released strong statements refusing to tolerate “hate speech”, while coach Steve Nash said the star guard had been spoken to prior to Saturday’s 125-116 loss to the Indiana Pacers.
However, speaking after the game against the Pacers at Barclays Center, Irving suggested he had not done anything wrong and would continue to speak with freedom.
“I’m not here to argue over a person or a culture or a religion and what they believe,” Irving said. “Nah, this is what’s here. It’s on a public platform.
“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 the judgement 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.
“So 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.”
Irving had earlier defended his actions on Twitter, where his shared post still remains, stating the “anti-Semitic label” on him was “not justified”, nor did he intend to disrespect “anyone’s beliefs”.
The Nets fell to a fourth straight loss of the season against the Pacers, though Nash does not believe the Irving situation influenced Brooklyn’s performance.
“I don’t think our group is overly affected by the situation,” Nash said. “We’ve had so many situations over the last one or two years that I think we’ve kind of built an immunity to some of it.
“I also think our guys aren’t that familiar with the material.”
Star Nets forward Kevin Durant echoed Nash’s comments, suggesting Brooklyn would pay no attention to those outside of the locker room.
“Absolutely not,” Durant responded when asked if the furore had impacted his side. “The only impact is you guys and everybody outside the locker room.”
