Brooklyn Nets’ Kyrie Irving Defends Post Promoting Anti-Semitic Film

By: TJVNews.com

It began with his ridiculed “flat earth” comments and has now been estimated into political and racial matters.

Despite backlash from the media, his fans, the Nets, and the NBA, Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving is defending his decision to post an Amazon prime movie called  Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America!”, a 3-hour 28-minute film that argues that Jews were responsible for the transatlantic slave trade.

“I’m disappointed that Kyrie appears to support a film based on a book full of anti-semitic disinformation,” Nets owner Joe Tsai tweeted on Friday, shortly after Irving’s tweet,

The film is based on an earlier book by the same name, advancing widely false claims that Jews dominated the Atlantic slave trade. While Jews participated in the slave trade, the suit — moved by antisemites including Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke — is widely understood by scholars and watchdogs as antisemitic and preeminently dominated by Islam.

The AP reported that the NBA on Saturday said “hate speech of any kind is unacceptable.”

“We believe we all have a role to play in ensuring such words or ideas, including antisemitic ones, are challenged and refuted and we will continue working with all members of the NBA community to ensure that everyone understands the impact of their words and actions,” the league said, as was reported by the AP.

It was not clear if that meant the league has spoken to Irving, or plans to speak to him on the matter.

Irving was unavailable for most of the Nets’ home games last season because he refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19, as was mandated in New York City. The AP reported that the Nets then declined to give him a contract extension this summer, meaning Irving could be in his final season with the team.

“The Brooklyn Nets strongly condemn and have no tolerance for the promotion of any form of hate speech,” the team said in a statement. “We believe that in these situations, our first action must be open, honest dialogue. We thank those, including the ADL, who have been supportive during this time.”

Nash was asked Saturday if he felt if the latest Irving storyline was a distraction to the team.

“I don’t think our group is overly affected by the situation,” Nash said, according to the AP report. “We’ve had so many situations over the last 2-1/2 years that I think we’ve kind of built an immunity to some of it. I also think our guys aren’t that familiar with the material.”

The film and book argue that Black Americans are the “ chosen people,” a view shared recently by famous artist Kanye West and Chicago Cubs pitcher Marcus Stroman, and other celebrities such as  Kendrick Lamar, Kodak Black, Nick Cannon, and NFL star DeSean Jackson.

West’s Instagram account was recently locked after he posted a text exchange with rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs in which he accused the black Jews of “controlling” comb’s lifestyle.

West then pivoted to Twitter and said to his 31 million followers that he would soon go “death con 3” on the Jews, adding, “The funny thing is I can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are a Jew….” Twitter removed the tweet for violating its rules.

The “Jews” Kanye might’ve been referring to date back to the late 1800s when an Oklahoma preacher born into slavery launched a new religious movement in the United States.

At the time, it was called Black Israelism but is better known today as the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. Remember, this was during a time of racial segregation where African Americans were treated as enslaved people around the country, including news, so these people took that as inappropriate behavior when it was the norm at the time.

The religion required white and Black worshippers to wash each other’s feet. Indeed they adopted many orthodox jew practices, including Shabbat and Passover. In the years that followed, many black spiritual leaders inherited the project and have kept it going. So what’s wrong with this, you ask? Well, while the “Black Jews” movement resides under the  Hebrew Israelite umbrella, their beliefs and attitudes toward Jews and Israel are a far cry from proper.

Some groups consider Latin Americans and Native Americans to be descendants of the 12 tribes of Israel in addition to Black people, while others don’t. But the latter think of Jesus to be a prophet while others do worship him as their G-D, akin to Christians. The movement contains its reform groups, too, notably the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ, often preaching on street corners while shouting profanities about whites, Jews, and LGBTQ people.

On the one hand, while history is, of course, misinterpreted with how the Black Hebrew movement conducts itself, some argue it doesn’t qualify as anti-Semitism.

However, West’s comments are highly offensive to African Americans who are indeed “real Jews” and follow the correct orthodox practices straight out of the Torah.

But he quickly squashed any doubt of what he was saying  on Thursday,  appearing on FOX, clarityinh his comments to Tucker Carlson: “ When I say Jew, I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people knew as the race Black is.” (The tribe of Judah was one of the 12 tribes of Israel.) Right there, it was viewed as “Crossing the line,” Among the consequences was the end of his contract with Adidas, which produced his immensely profitable Yeezy line of sneakers.

In the case of Irving, the NBA star said late Saturday night during a press conference after the 2-5 Nets’ loss to the Indiana Pacers that he did not regret sharing information about the film.

“I’m not going to stand down on anything that I believe in,” he said, according to a report by ESPN. “I’m only going to get stronger because I’m not alone. I have a whole army around me.”

He  tweeted, “I meant no disrespect to anyone’s religious beliefs. The ‘Anti-Semitic’ label being pushed on me is unjustified and does not reflect the reality or truth I live in every day. I embrace and want to learn from all walks of life and religions.”

Irving, too, has had a lucrative contract with an athletic wear company, Nike. The Kyrie line reportedly generated $11 million in income for him in 2019. Still, the line was unlikely to be extended because it’s unclear whether Irving, a seven-time All-Star, will continue to play in the NBA after this season. (The Nets did not renew his contract after he couldn’t play for much last season because he refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19.)

The CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, who was involved in canceling West’s contract, praised Tsai and the Nets organization for condemning Irving’s promotion of the film. “All of us at @ADL appreciate your leadership and look forward to continuing our discussions,” Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted Saturday night before Irving’s latest comments.

The Nets “strongly condemn and have no tolerance for the promotion of any form of hate speech,” the team said in a statement issued Friday night. “We believe that in these situations, our first action must be open, honest dialogue. We thank those, including the ADL, who have been supportive during this time.”

Irving’s original post went just as  Elon Musk took control over Twitter, emboldening trolls and antisemites who would benefit from Musk’s pledge to loosen content moderation policies on the social media platform. In his comments Saturday night, Irving indicated that he believed his film promotion should be acceptable speech.

“It’s on a public platform. Did I do anything illegal?” Irving said during the press conference. “Did I hurt anybody? Did I harm anybody?” No, he physically didn’t, but he promoted a film littered with anti-semitic ideology, ones that support today’s fake Jewish movement and go against people of his race who are real Jews and believe in the true ruler of the world, Hashem.