Kyrie Irving's Unrepentant Antisemitism and his Profiting from Chinese Human Rights Abuses Are Ignored by Most Media Outlets
Kyrie Irving arrived to game two of the NBA Finals carrying a keffiyeh. This is not the first time that Irving has displayed a keffiyeh at an NBA game; regardless of what the garment may have represented in the past, what it represents now is support for Hamas' October 7, 2023 mass casualty terrorist attack against Israel, and Hamas' declaration of its intent to perpetrate such attacks "again and again and again" until Israel is destroyed. Irving has also worn a necklace with a map of Israel covered by a Palestinian flag, and after the October 7 attack he has been silent about Jewish victims but instead posted to social media, "Where are all you tough talking Media Heads
that get on TV and social platforms to condemn people who stand by the
oppressed?? Crimes are being committed against humanity and most of you
are silent. Cat got your tongue? Or you’re afraid of actually standing
for something real." Thus, Irving not only blatantly ignores the full dimension of the atrocities committed by Hamas, but he falsely accuses Israel of war crimes while advocating--via the symbols he proudly wears--the replacement of Israel with a Palestinian state (i.e., advocating genocide of Jews). Anti-Zionism is antisemitism, and Irving is a raving anti-Zionist who is not criticizing specific Israeli policies but rather advocating that Israel be destroyed and replaced by a Palestinian Arab state.
Further, during a January 2024 game Irving demanded that a Jewish fan take down a Jewish pride sign. Irving exercises his freedom to express whatever hate-filled vitriol is floating through his head while also seeking to repress other people's freedom of expression.
It would be considered unacceptable for an NBA player to deny the horrors of the Transatlantic slave trade, or to post social media comments making false allegations against Black people, so it is also unacceptable for an NBA player to openly display antisemitism--and Irving's conduct documented above demonstrates that he is antisemitic.
Irving has the right to wear or display whatever garments he wants to wear/display, but the NBA also has a right--and an obligation--to make clear where it stands. The NBA has been very vocal about supporting Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights, and other selected causes, so its silence about surging antisemitism is noteworthy and disturbing. The Mavericks' majority owner, Miriam Adelson, is Jewish, as is minority owner Mark Cuban, and it is disappointing that using Irving's talents to try to win an NBA title is apparently more important to them than the deplorable stances that Irving takes regarding the Jewish people and Israel.
On top of Irving's unrepentant antisemitism, he and many other NBA players promote shoes that are made by Chinese companies that use slave laborers. The NBA is demonstrating that it cares more about profits than human rights, and that extends to the disparate treatment that team owners receive after engaging in misconduct or presiding over a workplace with rampant misconduct; thus, Mark Cuban fared better than Robert Sarver, who fared better than Donald Sterling.
I have often written about racism and the Civil Rights Movement, and I have drawn attention to movies like "Black Magic" that powerfully describe history that must never be forgotten. I have written about Chinese human rights abuses, as noted above. Collectively, the Jewish people have been vocal supporters of the Civil Rights Movement, and some Jews paid the ultimate price for such support. Jews spoke out for Blacks because it is the right thing to do, without expecting anything in return--but the widespread and growing antisemitism in the Black community, as reflected in the support that Irving receives in the Black community for his antisemitism, is very disappointing.
Between games one and two of the NBA Finals, Vince Goodwill asked Boston Coach Joe Mazzulla a rambling, incoherent questions about Black NBA coaches, and then Goodwill wrote a rambling, incoherent column after Mazzulla failed to take the (race) bait. Does Goodwill's attempted foray into social advocacy extend to antisemitism and to Chinese persecution of Uighur Muslims, or does he specialize in selective outrage calculated to bring maximum attention to himself? I have mixed feelings about giving Goodwill the attention that he craves, but he is already a national media figure, so calling him out for failing to ask the most important questions is important even if that gives him more attention.
Goodwill is not alone in his selective approach regarding bigotry and persecution. Will Brian Windhorst, Dave McMenamin, Mike Wilbon, Stephen A. Smith, or any of the other national media members covering the NBA Finals report about Irving's antisemitism and Irving's promotion of shoes built by Chinese companies that are flagrant abusers of human rights?
Labels: China, Dallas Mavericks, Hamas, Israel, Kyrie Irving
posted by David Friedman @ 8:11 PM
The NBA Once Again Displays its Hyprocrisy by Embracing Kyrie Irving's Kaffiyeh While Rejecting a Fan's Jewish Pride Sign
During official NBA press conferences, unrepentant antisemite Kyrie Irving has proudly worn a kaffiyeh--Muslim garb that, regardless of what it originally represented, is now inextricably connected with terrorism against Israel specifically and the Jewish people in general--while making it clear that he supports Hamas against Israel, but the NBA remains silent; this is disappointing but not surprising, because the NBA--despite its social justice posturing and its virtue signaling--cares about profits more than it cares about anything else. As I noted in my previous article about Irving, it would be great if the NBA stepped up, spoke out, and educated not only Irving but his millions of fans and social media followers:
Dallas owner Mark Cuban is Jewish and he has spoken out recently about the worldwide surge in antisemitism and about his personal experiences with antisemitism.
It would be great if Cuban either helped Irving educate himself, or
provided appropriate discipline to ensure that Irving understood that as
a high-paid employee of the Dallas Mavericks he has a responsibility to
not support terrorism--assuming that the Dallas Mavericks and the NBA
are willing to publicly to take a position against supporting terrorism.
Over 100 universities have publicly united against terrorism, and over 1500 lawyers from some of the world's biggest law firms issued a public statement condemning Hamas' terrorism:
We, the undersigned group of attorneys from around the
world, publicly condemn and denounce the unspeakable acts of mass terror
perpetrated by Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization, against
civilians in Israel.
We stand for the rule of law. We are shocked and horrified by the
ghastly barbarism carried out against innocent civilians. We are angered
by the cowardly crimes against humanity committed and the massive scale
on which they were perpetrated.
We stand for moral consistency. We are profoundly disturbed by the
litany of free people throughout the world who are indifferent, or even
hostile, when confronted with Jewish suffering.
We stand against injustice. We therefore affirm that Israel has the
undeniable right and obligation to pursue justice against those who harm
it and murder its citizens, and to defend itself against further
aggression.
We stand for peace. We affirm the right of all people – Jews and
non-Jews – to live in peace and security, and we wholeheartedly reject
the moral equivalence of bloodthirsty terrorists and Israel’s imperative
to defend its population.
Finally, we affirm the promise made by our forebears — that never
again will Jews sit by while other Jews are slaughtered en masse.
We call on our colleagues in the legal profession and elsewhere to
stand with us and denounce terrorism against Israel and Jews throughout
the world.
The NBA has tremendous power and
influence. It would be wonderful if the league issued a similar
statement signed by Commissioner Adam Silver, every team owner, every
coach, and every player.
The problem is not just that the NBA turns a blind eye and deaf ear to Irving's proud expressions of antisemitism; the NBA also works with Irving to suppress expressions of Jewish pride. Irving has revealed himself to be both a bully and a coward. Here is one account of how he used his power as a star player to stifle a fan's expression of Jewish pride on New Year's Day:
When Kyrie Irving's Dallas Mavericks came to Salt Lake City on Monday
to face the Utah Jazz, Rabbi Avremi Zippel knew he had to be there.
Zippel, his brother Chaim, their father Benny and their friend Moshe
Nigri--all of whom attended Monday night’s basketball matchup--are US
Chabad rabbis who work at the Hasidic movement's Utah outpost in Salt
Lake City. Avremi is a huge Jazz fan, and he wanted to send a message to
Irving, the NBA star who was suspended in November 2022 after he
promoted an antisemitic documentary that denied the Holocaust and
initially refused to apologize. He later apologized following an
eight-game suspension.
The episode still stung Zippel, so the quartet of rabbis secured
courtside seats and held up identical signs reading, "I'm a Jew and I'm
proud," with a Star of David replacing the "o" in "proud."
"Some of the things that Kyrie said about the Jewish community and
about Holocaust denial were vile and disgusting," Zippel told The Salt
Lake Tribune. He did not respond to Jewish Telegraphic Agency requests
for comment on Wednesday.
An arena guard snapped the rabbis' picture and Jazz owner Ryan Smith
greeted them. At first, Zippel said, the signs did not appear to upset
anyone--including Irving, who complimented the message and showed the
rabbis his Star of David tattoo.
"He comes by, he looks at the sign, and he says, 'Nice. I’m a Jew,
too,' Zippel told the Tribune, adding that Irving's response bothered
him. Irving--who isn't Jewish but has said he has Jewish relatives--may have been echoing the Black Hebrew Israelite claim that
African-Americans are the true Jews. But Zippel said he wished Irving a
happy new year and moved on.
But moments later, according to Zippel, Irving's tone changed: As the
Dallas guard dribbled the ball up the court, he yelled to the rabbis, "Don't gotta bring something like that to the game."
During the next timeout, a security guard approached Zippel's
group and checked their tickets. Then another guard told them to put the
signs down, according to Zippel's account. At halftime, a Jazz staffer
told them that Irving had complained to security.
Irving subsequently denied asking for the Jewish pride sign to be put down, but the statement issued by the Jazz to clarify what happened contradicts Irving's denial by noting that the request to put the sign down came from a player (presumably Irving): "During an out-of-bounds play in the first quarter of yesterday's Jazz
game against the Dallas Mavericks, there was a group sitting courtside
whose signs sparked an interaction with a player that created a
distraction and interfered with play of (the) game. As the next step in
standard security protocol, the fans were asked to take down their
signs."
The NBA's message is clear: Jews expressing Jewish pride is an unacceptable distraction at an NBA game. It will be interesting to see if Black pride, gay pride, or any other kind of pride is similarly considered to be distracting.
Here is what Rabbi Zippel posted on X regarding this incident:
Last night, I attended the Jazz/Mavericks game. I brought with me a sign (12 x 18 inches to be exact) that read "I'm a Jew and I'm proud."
In the middle of the first quarter, after abruptly coming over to check our tickets, we were informed that we could not hold up our signs during the game.
The rationale given was that fans can not hold any signage while courtside.
A number of Jazz employees corroborated that
--they knew of no such policy
--the request to take them down was made after Kyrie Irving saw the signs, verbally commented on them to us, and complained to Dallas security.
That Kyrie Irving is a coward with the spine of a goldfish is not news to me.
That the Mavericks organization covers for him is, sadly, not news to me.
I'm a lifelong Jazz fan and don't intend to change any of that anytime soon.
I've lived through some years when the basketball the Jazz played on the court was kinda embarrassing.
And yet.
Last time, for the first time in my life, I was really disappointed in the Utah Jazz.
TNT's excellent "Inside the NBA" program often weighs in on social justice issues, and they devoted one segment to Irving's antisemitism in November 2022, but otherwise they have ignored the topic; even more significantly, I am not aware of the program making a single statement either supporting Israel after October 7 or condemning Hamas for the October 7 attacks and the ongoing hostage crisis. Their silence is complicity with evil and it is extremely disappointing, though not surprising.
It is vile that anyone would support Hamas' October 7, 2023 mass casualty terrorist attack against Israel. The reality is that Anti-Zionism is Indistinguishable From Antisemitism Because Israel is the Jewish Homeland. Antisemitism is soaring, and responsible, caring humans speak and act in a way to curb antisemitism, as opposed to ignoring or even encouraging antisemitism.
Irving has a right to believe that the Earth is flat (and I doubt that
he could even find Gaza on an unlabeled map of the world) and he has a
right to his political beliefs--but the NBA also has a right to decide
who to employ. Fans, media members, and the general public have a
right to let Irving know just how ignorant, hateful, hurtful, and
harmful his beliefs are.
Silence is complicity, and if we have learned
anything about atrocities from the Holocaust to 10/7/23 it is that
silence leads to violence. I will never be silent, and I encourage
others to speak out. The NBA may never take a stand on any issue based purely on moral grounds, but if enough people can convince the NBA that antisemitism is against the league's commercial interests then perhaps the NBA will take appropriate action.
Labels: antisemitism, Dallas Mavericks, Hamas, Israel, Kyrie Irving, Mark Cuban, NBA
posted by David Friedman @ 7:31 PM
Kyrie Irving's Pro-Hamas Stance is Not Surprising, but The NBA's Silence is Disappointing
It is not at all surprising that unrepentant antisemite Kyrie Irving openly supports Hamas and makes false accusations against Israel. As I noted last year, "Antisemitism has been labeled the 'socialism of fools,' and Irving is emerging as the poster child of this foolishness." After ESPN's Nick Friedell asked Irving last year about Irving's social media post promoting a film filled with antisemitic tropes, I explained that Irving's response combined defiance and ignorance:
Irving acts like he is a brave person who speaks the truth, but he is
a coward who spouts ignorance and then pretends that linking to an
antisemitic film on his social media platform to spread that film's hate
to his millions of followers could not possibly have any negative, real
life consequences. "Did I harm anybody?" Irving asked Friedell at
Saturday's press conference. Yes, in a country where antisemitic attacks
are increasing to unprecedented levels, encouraging your millions of
followers to watch a film that denies that the Holocaust happened and
accuses Jews of worshiping Satan is harmful. Irving has deleted the
offensive social media post, but he has not admitted that the film he
promoted is full of hate-filled lies. Essentially, he gave the film free
publicity to millions of his followers, and after he did that it is not
nearly enough to just delete the social media post without any comment.
It is irresponsible to incite hatred to millions of people and then
just try to pretend that nothing happened.
If you don't understand
the problem here, then just imagine that your least favorite politician
posted something on social media that is offensive to you or to your
ethnic group. Would you be satisfied if that person just took the post
down with no comment, or would you think that he is obligated to
repudiate the statement? Maybe if you think about it in those terms then
you will understand why what Irving did is wrong, hurtful, and
potentially putting a vulnerable minority group at risk.
As
long as Irving keeps putting the ball in the hoop, though, he is immune
from discipline, unless a whole lot more than seven people show up in
NBA arenas wearing "Fight Antisemitism" T-shirts; that would get the
NBA's attention, because the NBA cares more about profits than anything
else. Wearing a "Fight Antisemitism" T-shirt at this time in this
country is a lot braver than anything Irving has ever done.
It is naive at best to assert that when Irving wears a kaffiyeh at a press conference after Hamas' October 7 terrorist attack against Israel he is just expressing solidarity with Palestinian Arabs or support of peaceful coexistence; whatever the kaffiyeh may have meant in previous eras, in this era there is no question that it is associated with terrorism against Israel specifically and the Jewish people in general.
The NBA cares about profits
more than it cares about anything else. Dallas' Luka Doncic-Kyrie
Irving duo can generate a lot of revenue in terms of high TV ratings,
ticket purchases, and merchandise sales, so don't hold your breath
waiting for the league or the Mavericks to take any action against
Irving. Dallas owner Mark Cuban is Jewish and he has spoken out recently about the worldwide surge in antisemitism and about his personal experiences with antisemitism. It would be great if Cuban either helped Irving educate himself, or provided appropriate discipline to ensure that Irving understood that as a high-paid employee of the Dallas Mavericks he has a responsibility to not support terrorism--assuming that the Dallas Mavericks and the NBA are willing to publicly to take a position against supporting terrorism. Over 100 universities have publicly united against terrorism, and over 1500 lawyers from some of the world's biggest law firms issued a public statement condemning Hamas' terrorism:
We, the undersigned group of attorneys from around the
world, publicly condemn and denounce the unspeakable acts of mass terror
perpetrated by Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization, against
civilians in Israel.
We stand for the rule of law. We are shocked and horrified by the
ghastly barbarism carried out against innocent civilians. We are angered
by the cowardly crimes against humanity committed and the massive scale
on which they were perpetrated.
We stand for moral consistency. We are profoundly disturbed by the
litany of free people throughout the world who are indifferent, or even
hostile, when confronted with Jewish suffering.
We stand against injustice. We therefore affirm that Israel has the
undeniable right and obligation to pursue justice against those who harm
it and murder its citizens, and to defend itself against further
aggression.
We stand for peace. We affirm the right of all people – Jews and
non-Jews – to live in peace and security, and we wholeheartedly reject
the moral equivalence of bloodthirsty terrorists and Israel’s imperative
to defend its population.
Finally, we affirm the promise made by our forebears — that never
again will Jews sit by while other Jews are slaughtered en masse.
We call on our colleagues in the legal profession and elsewhere to
stand with us and denounce terrorism against Israel and Jews throughout
the world.
The NBA has tremendous power and influence. It would be wonderful if the league issued a similar statement signed by Commissioner Adam Silver, every team owner, every coach, and every player.
Labels: antisemitism, Dallas Mavericks, Hamas, Israel, Kyrie Irving, Mark Cuban, NBA
posted by David Friedman @ 10:42 PM
