CNN
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Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving apologized Thursday night for tweeting a link to a documentary criticized as anti-Semitic and said he took full responsibility for his decision to share the content with his nearly 5 million followers.
Hours after the Nets announced a five-game suspension for him to later defend his decision, the NBA star posted an apology on his verified Instagram account.
“To all the Jewish families and communities hurt and impacted by my post, I’m so sorry for the pain I’ve caused you, I’m so sorry,” Irving wrote. The reaction of the ism label was emotional rather than focusing on the recovery process of my Jewish siblings who were hurt by the hate speech in the documentary.
“I have no intention of disrespecting any Jewish cultural history about the Holocaust or perpetuating any hatred. I am learning from this unfortunate event and hopefully we can find understanding among us all,” Owen continued.
Irving was reprimanded by Nets owner Tsai Chongxin and the NBA last week for tweeting a link to the 2018 film “Hebrew to Black: Awakening Black America,” based on Ronald Dalton’s book of the same name and has been slammed by civil rights groups as anti-Semitic.
Before Irving’s apology, his team released a statement on twitter Said they had repeatedly tried to help Owen “understand the danger and danger of his words and actions, which began when he promoted a film that contained deeply disturbing anti-Semitic hatred.”
The Nets said Thursday they were “frustrated” when Irving “refused to make it clear that he had no anti-Semitic beliefs or to acknowledge the specific hate material in the film” during a media conference.
“This is not the first time he has had a chance – but failed – to clarify,” the team said.
During a meeting with the media earlier Thursday, Irving was asked if he was apologizing for saying he didn’t mean to offend after tweeting a link to the movie.
“I didn’t mean to cause any harm,” Owen replied. “I’m not the one who made this documentary.”
“I will take full responsibility, and I repeat, for posting something on my Instagram or Twitter that may have had some unfortunate lies,” he said.
“I was in charge of publishing that,” Irving continued. “There’s something suspicious out there, not real.
“Like the first time I said, you all asked me when I was sitting on that stage. I don’t believe everything that everyone posted. It’s a documentary. So, I take my responsibility.”
When asked if he had any anti-Semitic beliefs, Irving replied: “I respect all walks of life. I embrace all walks of life. That’s where I sit.”
When asked to answer yes or no, he replied: “If I knew where I came from, I couldn’t be anti-Semitic.”
Responding to the answer on Twitter, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League — a nonprofit organization “dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism and all kinds of hate that undermines justice and fair treatment for everyone” — said Owen “has a lot of work to do. to do.”
“The answer to the question ‘Do you have any anti-Semitic beliefs’ is always ‘no’, unequivocally. We kept our word when @KyrieIrving said he took responsibility, but today he didn’t deliver on that,” Jonathan Greenbra special Thursday. “Cary obviously has a lot of work to do.”
“The failure to deny anti-Semitism when given the clear opportunity to do so is deeply disturbing, goes against the values of our organization, and constitutes a detriment to the team,” the Nets said in a statement Thursday. Behavior. Therefore, we do not believe he is currently suitable for association with the Brooklyn Nets. We have determined that Kyrie will be suspended without compensation until he satisfies a series of objective remedies to address the detrimental effects of his behavior, and the suspension period is not less than Five games.”
The media appearance came after Irving and the Nets announced Wednesday that they would donate $500,000 to the anti-hate group.
In an earlier joint statement from Irving, the Nets and the Anti-Defamation League, the 30-year-old said he took “responsibility” for the “negative impact” of his position on the Jewish community.
But on Thursday night, after the suspension was announced, Greenblatt tweeted that the ADL cannot “accept in good conscience” Irving’s donation.
“(Irving) has had ample opportunity to do the right thing, apologize and condemn #antisemitism. He has failed almost every step along the way. This suspension is well deserved,” Greenblatt Say. “We were optimistic, but after watching the press conference fiasco, it was clear that Carey was not responsible for his actions.”
Earlier this week, NBA analyst and Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley said he thought the league had “lost the ball” against Irving and that he believed the player should be suspended.
Asked on Tuesday why Irving wasn’t disciplined for his behavior, Nets general manager Sean Marks told reporters: “I think we’re having these discussions behind the scenes.”
NBA commissioner Adam Silver says he is “He was disappointed in Owen after the guards did not apologize or condemn “the harmful content contained in the films he chose to promote.” Silver will meet with Irving next week, the commissioner said in a statement Thursday.
“Kyrie Irving made a reckless decision to release a link to a film that contained highly offensive anti-Semitic material,” Silver said.
“While we appreciate his agreement to work with the Brooklyn Nets and the Anti-Defamation League to combat anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination, I am disappointed that he did not offer an unconditional apology that more specifically condemns vile and harmful content contained in him. Selected in the promotional film.”
After the Nets games in those days, Irving was not reported by the media on Monday or Tuesday.
The joint statement said the donation was to “eliminate hatred and intolerance in our community”.
Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League once said: “At a time when anti-Semitism is reaching historic levels, we know that the best way to fight the oldest hatred is to confront it and change minds and minds.”
Kanye West, who has been criticized for anti-Semitic remarks on social media and in interviews, tweeted a photo of the guard Thursday in support of Irving.