Nets star Kyrie Irving reportedly met with NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
Irving’s meeting with the commissioner comes after the Brooklyn guard made headlines for sharing an antisemitic film and book entitled Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America on social media. While Irving has since deleted his tweet, Rolling Stone described the film and book as one that was “stuffed with antisemitic tropes.”
When Irving initially doubled down on his sharing of the film, expressing that he did not “anything illegal” or “hurt somebody” in a postgame news conference on Oct. 29, Silver condemned Irving’s refusal to apologize or say that he doesn’t hold antisemetic beliefs, and called his decision to promote the film a “reckless decision.”
“I am disappointed that he [Irving] has not offered an unqualified apology and more specifically denounced the vile and harmful content contained in the film he chose to publicize,” Silver said last week.
After multiple controversial interviews and a refusal to apologize, Irving issued an apology on Instagram after the Nets suspended the star guard for at least five games last Thursday. Since then, Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports reported that the seven-time All-Star must reportedly complete a list of requirements that include issuing a verbal apology to the media for sharing the film as well as having a strong understanding of why the film was harmful.
Irving will also be required to follow and complete sensitivity trainings under the direction of the team and meet with Jewish leaders in the Brooklyn community and will need to “donate $500,000 to anti-hate causes and meet with the Anti-Defamation League,” according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
If Irving fulfills his requirements to the Nets’ approval, he will then meet with Brookyln owner Joe Tsai and state why his latest behavior will not happen again this season. However, earlier Tuesday, Celtics star and NBA Players Association vice president Jaylen Brown shared that he felt Irving’s suspension would be appealed by the union. According to Brown, several players “expressed discomfort with the terms” handed down by the team.
“I don’t believe Kyrie Irving is antisemitic,” Brown told the Boston Globe. “I don’t think people in our governing bodies think he’s antisemitic. He made a mistake. We understand from an outside perspective how important sensitivity is to not condone hate speech and not condone anything of that nature. It’s sensitivity to the dialect around that. We don’t want to stand up for somebody in order to not condemn hate speech, but I don’t believe Kyrie Irving is antisemitic. And hopefully the NBA feels the same way.”
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