Nike suspends relationship with Kyrie Irving
Nike broke up with Kyrie Irving. The shoe giant announced Friday night that it was suspending its relationship with the Brooklyn security guard. Suspended by Nets For what he called the team’s repeated failures to “clearly say they have no anti-Semitic beliefs.”
The Nets made that move on Thursday, and Nike made a similar decision the next day.
“At Nike, we believe there is no place for hate speech, and we condemn all forms of anti-Semitism,” the Beaverton, Oregon-based company said. We have decided to end the relationship immediately and not launch the Kyrie 8.”
The shoe was supposed to be released later this month. Irving has had the Nike Signature line since 2014.
“We are deeply saddened and disappointed by this situation and its impact on everyone,” Nike said in a statement.
The controversy began when Irving posted a link to the movie “From Hebrews to Blacks: Wake Up Black America” on Twitter on October 27.synopsis on Amazon It said the 2018 film would “reveal the identity of the children of Israel.”
The film is full of conspiracy theories about Jews, including false claims that Jews controlled the slave trade.
The next day, Nets owner Joe Tsai wrote on twitter He was “disappointed” that Irving appeared to endorse a film “based on a book full of anti-Semitic misinformation”.
At several press conferences over the next week, Irving refused to denounce anti-Semitism.
Wednesday, the team announced in a joint statement Irving and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) have announced that Irving and the Nets will each donate $500,000 to anti-hate groups. In that statement, Irving wrote:
However, the next day, the team said it suspended Irving without pay for at least five games after being “disappointed” by media sessions earlier in the day. He held anti-Semitic beliefs.
Netz said, “Kylie refused to explicitly state that he had no anti-Semitic beliefs, nor to acknowledge certain hateful content in the film.” It wasn’t the first time I’ve tried it, but it failed.”
Following the announced suspension, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted that the organization would not accept any donations from Irving.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver thursday was early It also issued a statement of his own that Irving “failed to offer an unconditional apology and, more specifically, condemned the vile and harmful content contained in the films he chose to promote.” Irving said he was “disappointed” by the agency, adding that he plans to meet with him next week to “discuss the situation.”
Irving’s tweets and actions also drew criticism from across the NBA community. Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley told TNT Tuesday before his suspension was announced that he felt the NBA “dropped the ball” by allowing Irving to continue playing.
“I think he should have been suspended. I think Adam.” [Silver, NBA commissioner] We should have suspended him,” Barkley said.
Late Thursday night, Irving finally apologized in an Instagram post for failing to explain certain beliefs he agreed with and disagreed with when posting the documentary.
“To all Jewish families and communities who have been hurt and affected by my posts, I deeply apologize for causing you pain,” Irving wrote. Instead of focusing on the healing process of our Jewish brothers and sisters hurt by hateful remarks, we reacted emotionally to being unfairly labeled anti-Semitic.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nike-suspends-relationship-kyrie-irving-antisemitic-controversy/ Nike suspends relationship with Kyrie Irving