Brooklyn Nets basketball player Kyrie Irving made a lot of noise last season by refusing to be vaccinated against Covid and was eventually suspended. His issue with vaccines is that he’s a conspiracy theorist and believed a lot of the Qanon bullshit about them. Last season it was vaccines. This season, it’s antisemitism.

Kyrie tweeted a link to an antisemitic movie last week and refused to apologize or state he had no antisemitic views. The Nets suspended him indefinitely Thursday night and issued a statement saying, “Such failure to disavow antisemitism when given a clear opportunity to do so is deeply disturbing, is against the values of our organization, and constitutes conduct detrimental to the team.”

Then, Kyrie apologized. He said, “To All Jewish families and Communities that are hurt and affected from my post, I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize.” In case you didn’t notice, he still failed to state he doesn’t have antisemitic views. It’s one of those sorry-if-my-views-offended-you kinds of statements. He’s sorry if you’re hurt. He’s sorry if you’re “affected.” But he’s not condemning antisemitism. He’s not sorry he said it. You don’t even have to read between the lines to see what he’s doing here.

The Nets said Irving would be suspended without pay for a minimum of five games and “until he satisfies a series of objective remedial measures that address the harmful impact of his conduct.” The suspended-without-pay part is most likely the real reason he finally issued a kinda-sorta apology. I believe one of those required “remedial measures” for his suspension to be lifted should be a denouncement from Irving of antisemitism and antisemitic conspiracy theories, like the New World Order.

Kyrie claims that criticizing him for endorsing Alex Jones’ conspiracy theory of a New World Order is “dehumanizing” him… after he dehumanized Jews.

The movie he posted a link to is “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” which is based on a book by Ronald Dalton. It’s antisemitic and uses old tropes about Jewish people and their origins. It also claims the Holocaust is a hoax. Kyrie says he doesn’t agree with the entire movie but refused to state which specific parts he disagrees with. He said not to blame him for the movie he tweeted a link to, saying, “I’m not the one that made the documentary.”

When asked after a Nets practice if he believed the Holocaust occurred, he said, “Those falsehoods are unfortunate. And it’s not that I don’t believe in the Holocaust. I never said that. Never ever have said it. It’s not come out of my mouth. I never tweeted it. I never liked anything like it. So, the Holocaust in itself is an event that means something to a large group of people that suffered something that could have been avoided.” So it’s an “event” then? What kind of “event” Kyrie? What large group of people does it mean something to? Why does it mean something to them? “The Holocaust DID IN FACT occur” is another thing that’s “not come out” of Irving’s mouth.

Also on Thursday, Kyrie Irving posted on Instagram that he’d share a “factual explanation outlining the specific beliefs in the Documentary I agreed with and disagreed with.” We’re still waiting on that.

Kyrie and the Nets both committed to donating $500,000 to the Anti-Defamation League, but the ADL has refused Kyrie’s donation.

When asked by a reporter if he had any antisemitic beliefs, and to answer with either a “yes” or “no,” he stated, “I cannot be antisemitic if I know where I come from.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, lashed out saying, “The answer to the question, ‘Do you have any antisemitic beliefs’ is always ‘NO’ without equivocation.” Greenblatt tweeted, “We took @KyrieIrving at his word when he said he took responsibility, but today he did not make good on that promise. Kyrie clearly has a lot of work to do.”

Kyrie still hasn’t condemned the New World Order conspiracy theory and has stated he believes it’s true. What is it? It’s a very old conspiracy theory from before World War 1 that there’s a secret shadow government either working to control the world or already doing it. And it’s Jewish. Alex Jones has adopted it, made it his own, and claims New World Order is responsible for 9/11, Sandy Hook, the Oklahoma City bombing, vaccines causing autism, etc, etc. The belief is that there’s a secret “globalist” effort to control the world under one government. For Kyrie to fully denounce antisemitism, he needs to denounce this antisemitic conspiracy theory.

At this point of his career, the only team that may want to play ball with him would be the Wizards…and not the Wizards of Washington (who really need to change that name).

Music note: I listened to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

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