"Inside the NBA" Crew Weighs in on Kyrie Irving, the Departure of Steve Nash
Kyrie Irving and Kanye West have both made antisemitic social media posts recently. It does not seem likely that the NBA will discipline Irving despite Irving being unrepentant about how his post dehumanizes Jews. In a classic--and clumsy--attempt to control the narrative and distract attention, the Brooklyn Nets parted ways with Coach Steve Nash on the first day that Irving's Nets appeared on national TV since Irving made his now infamous social media post. Nash's departure is being presented as a mutual decision, but it is not hard to imagine that the Nets preferred for TNT's pre-game show to focus on the Nets' dysfunctional play instead of the Nets' resident antisemite.
TNT played along--for one segment. The first segment of TNT's pre-game show for the Brooklyn Nets-Chicago Bulls game focused on the Nets' coaching situation. Earlier in the day, reports suggested that the Nets plan to replace Nash with Ime Udoka, who the Boston Celtics suspended for the entire 2022-23 season, but that rumor caused so much media consternation that now the Nets are claiming that they have not determined who their next coach will be; assistant coach Jacque Vaughn will serve as their interim coach.
After the TNT crew spent 11 minutes talking about how bad the Nets are as a basketball team, Ernie Johnson tossed to a break by saying that in the next segment the crew would talk about Irving. After the advertisements ran, Johnson opened the discussion by describing Irving's behavior in the past year or so as "unpredictable and unsettling"--referring to, among other things, Irving's anti-vaccination stance and his embrace of lunatic conspiracy theorist Alex Jones--before directly addressing Irving's antisemitic tweet. Johnson said simply and directly of Irving, "That is promotion," contradicting Irving's disingenuous press conference statement that when he posts something for millions of his social media followers to see he is not promoting what he posts. Johnson noted that Irving has over 20 million followers across his various social media platforms.
Shaquille O'Neal mentioned that he was one of the first athletes to frequently utilize Twitter, and he knew from the beginning, "I had to be responsible." O'Neal said of Irving, "He's not conscious" and O'Neal expressed frustration because "We [the "Inside the NBA" crew] have to answer for what this idiot has done." O'Neal said that he tries to bring people of all different backgrounds together instead of tearing them apart, but that it is obvious to him that Irving does not think that way and "does not care."
Charles Barkley summed up the issue concisely and accurately: "I think the NBA dropped the ball." Barkley insisted that the NBA should have immediately suspended Irving. Barkley noted that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is Jewish--which is not relevant, as Irving deserves to be suspended regardless of who the Commissioner is--and declared that Silver should have said, "You can't take $40 million (a rough approximation of Irving's annual NBA salary) and insult my religion." Barkley is correct that the NBA should have suspended Irving--not because Irving insulted Silver's religion, but because Irving insulted every intelligent human being and because Irving's promotion of vile antisemitism is inexcusable (Amazon.com's willingness to sell the video that Irving promoted should also be addressed, but that is not something that the NBA controls).
Johnson pointed out that discussions are ongoing within the Nets organization and the NBA offices, so it is possible that the NBA may still discipline Irving, and Barkley was right on target when he replied, "It's too late now." Barkley added that if the NBA suspends Irving now then it looks like the NBA caved in to public pressure as opposed to taking a stance based on right and wrong.
Kenny Smith, who used to be a voice of reason, was way off target. He started off by saying that he will take Irving at face value when Irving says that he is not antisemitic. If that is how Smith thinks, then he also needs to take white supremacists at face value when they say that they are pro-white, not anti-Black. At least Smith conceded that reporter Nick Friedell has a right to question Irving about why Irving made the social media post, but that is so obvious that it should go without saying. Friedell and all journalists have a responsibility to ask pertinent questions, and there is no question more pertinent now for Irving than asking Irving why he promoted antisemitism on his Twitter feed. I am the first to note that many press conference questions are as stupid as they are irrelevant, but in this situation Friedell did his job--which makes him stand out in a room (and profession) where far too few people are willing or even capable of doing the job.
Anyone who does not understand how far off target Smith is regarding Kyrie Irving should just watch the segment and then imagine that Kyrie Irving is your least favorite politician and that Kyrie Irving tweeted about a video filled with vile, hateful stereotypes of Black people claiming that slavery never happened, that Black people worship Satan, and that Black people are responsible for the suffering of white people, who are actually the original and true Black people. In that hypothetical situation, can you picture Smith saying that he will take at face value the politician's insistence that he is not a racist?
A person is defined by what he does, not who he claims to be. In just a few days, Irving's words and actions have told the world so much about who he really is, and by not listening carefully Smith is telling us something about who he really is. Smith has generally been a thoughtful person, so maybe he will reconsider his position.
Ernie Johnson gently brought the segment back on track by passionately saying of our society "We've lost our way" and emphasizing that anyone who posts to social media--particularly a person who has as many followers as Irving--should first think, "If I put this out there, who am I going to hurt?" Johnson then cut to a clip from his podcast with Barkley when they had a conversation with Rabbi Erer Sherman. Rabbi Sherman said that the answer here is to communicate, and he invited Irving to come to his congregation, meet his family, and increase his understanding. Rabbi Sherman opined that the way out of our society's troubles will be through sport, because sport and religion "intersect in a deep way." It is true that historically sports have brought people from different backgrounds together, but I am not sure that it will be so easy to mend the deep fissures tearing apart our society.
During the game telecast, Reggie Miller said, "The players have dropped the ball on this one...Right is right and wrong is wrong. If you are going to call out owners, then you have to call out players as well." I have made that same point repeatedly: if NBA players are going to declare that they are more than just athletes and that they are social justice warriors then they have to accept the full weight of that responsibility, and they have to be willing to speak out about players who say or do hateful things.
The Nets announced that Irving will not speak to the media today, and he will not speak to the media for the foreseeable future. I can understand why the Nets prefer that Irving shut his mouth, but putting him under wraps so that he can keep scoring points is not the right way to go. Irving should take responsibility for what he posted and for the tremendous influence that he has. Also, league policy requires players to be available to the media on game day. It is not clear what, if anything, the suddenly silent and apparently impotent NBA office will do about this violation of league policy.
If this is not the Nets trying to protect Irving from himself but rather Irving using the team to shield himself from scrutiny then shame on him for being so cowardly. Irving claims that he has an "army" supporting him--and the scary thing is that may be true. If Irving feels so powerful, righteous, and smart, then he should not be afraid to listen to questions without interrupting and then to answer those questions. Dictators control the press, but freethinking leaders are not afraid to be questioned and challenged.
Earlier today, after Nets General Manager Sean Marks was asked why the team had not fined or suspended Irving, Marks stated that the Nets are communicating with the Anti-Defamation League regarding the Irving situation. That is weak. If Irving is willing to be educated about history, then the ADL and other groups can play a role, but it is not up to the ADL to punish Irving or set workplace policies for the NBA.
The NBA, its teams, its coaches, and its players are not shy about expressing their opinions about a host of political, economic, and social issues, so their silence about Irving sends a loud and clear message: the NBA does not care about antisemitism.
Labels: antisemitism, Brooklyn Nets, Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Inside the NBA, Kenny Smith, Kyrie Irving, NBA, Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Nash
posted by David Friedman @ 9:56 PM
2 Comments:
the NBA is jumping the shark. many of the players are out of touch celebs. and the game has devolved into a 3-point shooting contest
Anonymous:
It surprises me how quickly people who grew up in poverty completely lose touch with the day to day concerns of regular people after they become wealthy. This is not a new phenomenon; during the 1999 lockout, NBA players whined that if the lockout lasted much longer then they would not be able to keep up the payments for their multiple houses/cars, displaying a complete lack of awareness of how tone deaf (and insensitive) that sounds to people who are living paycheck to paycheck just to survive.
I also agree with you that the game has "devolved," even though many people insist that the game has improved. I have no doubt that the players from the 1970s and 1980s would flourish in today's game, but there are some stars in today's game who would not be successful in previous eras unless they changed their attitudes and adjusted to not being able to travel, carry the ball, and waltz to the hoop with minimal defensive contact. Also, the spacing provided by the three point shot enables less talented players to have roles, and more talented players to look better than they would look if the game were more congested. I would say that player statistics from the past five to 10 years can only be compared to statistics from this era, because 30 ppg now is not the same as 30 ppg in a more competitive, more physical league.
Post a Comment
<< Home