Steve Nash Reacts to Kyrie Irving’s Controversial Film Promotion
Kyrie #Kyrie
The Brooklyn Nets head coach condemns Anti-Semitism.
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In wake of Kyrie Irving’s recent Anti-Semitic social media postings – a tweet and an Instagram story that endorsed a 2018 film “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America” that is filled with anti-Semitic material – the Nets head coach commented on the controversy.
“I don’t have an update other than I know Kyrie made a statement. I know the organization made a statement. The organization has spoken to Kyrie about it,” Steve Nash said pregame Friday evening. “Clearly, I think we all represent values of inclusiveness, and equality, and condemn hate speech. I’m not familiar with the material that Kyrie was promoting. It’s really something that I’m not too versed on it but this is a generality. We believe in equality and I think our organization has stood for that for a long, long time and has backed that up. When you get a chance to talk to Kyrie, I’m sure he’ll be able to explain his perspective.”
The Nets organization condemned Irving’s social media postings Friday night, stating: “The Brooklyn Nets strongly condemn and have no tolerance for the promotion of any form of hate speech. We believe that in these situations, our first action must be open, honest dialogue. We thank those, including the ADL, who have been supportive during this time.”
The Nets Governor, Joe Tsai took to Twitter to make his statement in wake of Irving’s anti-Semitic postings, tweeting: “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. This is bigger than basketball.”
The superstar point guard also took to Twitter to state that he doesn’t believe the “Anti-Semitic label that is being pushed” on him is not justified: “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.”
There is no indication yet whether the NBA will take action. The Nets head coach stated that Irving will play his regular workload against the Indiana Pacers Saturday night. Nash declined to get into specifics about who Irving spoke to inside the Nets organization.
“I’m not gonna give details of who he spoke to or what that conversation was. That’s an organizational thing,” Nash stated. “It’s just a part of the process of dealing with these things.”
The Nets head coach stated he doesn’t believe Irving and his recent actions serve as a distraction. He doesn’t think his group of players is not overly affected by his latest controversy.
“I don’t,” Nash stated pregame. “I don’t think our group is overly affected by the situation. We’ve had so many situations over the last two-and-a-half years 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. If we get a minute to breathe we can get a deeper understanding to what actually are the details here then we will but right now I think guys are trying to focus on the game. I think the organization has stepped up and made a strong statement on their beliefs and you’ll be able to hear from Kyrie when it’s his turn to talk.”
At the time of this writing, Irving’s tweet remains undeleted on his account. The Instagram story timed out and is no longer active.