NBPA Vice President Jaylen Brown expects the NBPA to appeal the indefinite suspension of NBA Champion Kyrie Irving.
Earlier this month, Brooklyn Nets Point Guard Kyrie Irving was suspended for at least five games after sharing a link to a film called Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America. Irving claims that he did not “promote” the film and denies that he agrees with all the information presented in it. However, several fans, analysts, players and journalists took issue with several of the claims made within the film. Most notably, the film and accompanying book call the death toll from the Holocaust one of the “five major falsehoods.”
“It doesn’t matter what color your skin is, how tall you are or what position you’re in,” Irving’s former teammate, LeBron James, recently said about the matter.
“If you are promoting, soliciting or saying harmful things to any community that harms people, then I don’t respect it. I don’t condone it.”
As public discussion regarding Irving’s decision to share a link to the film mounted, he partnered with the Brooklyn Nets to donate $500,000 each to the Anti-Defamation League. Shortly thereafter, Irving met with reporters and was asked about his decision to share a link to the film.
“I take my responsibility for posting that. Some things that were questionable in there, untrue. Like I said in the first time when you guys were asking me when I was sitting on that stage,” he said.
“I don’t believe everything that everybody posts. It’s a documentary, so I take my responsibility.”
The Anti-Defamation League, Brooklyn Nets Owner Joe Tsai and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver felt that Irving’s statements were not strong enough.
“I am disappointed that he has not offered an unqualified apology and more specifically denounced the vile and harmful content contained in the film he chose to publicize,” Silver said.
As a result, the ADL refused to accept Irving’s donation and the Nets suspended Irving indefinitely. In order for Irving to resume playing with the team, he must complete the following tasks:
- Apologize for sharing a link to the film
- Donate $500,000 to anti-hate causes
- Complete sensitivity training
- Complete anti-Semitic training
- Meet with the Anti-Defamation League
- Meet with Jose Tsai to demonstrate understanding
Less than a week after Irving’s suspension was handed down, National Basketball Players Association Vice President Jaylen Brown offered his thoughts on the matter.
“[Irving] made a mistake. He posted something. There was no distinction,” Brown said.
“Maybe we can move forward, but the terms in which he has to fulfill to return, I think not just speaking for me, speaking as a vice president from a lot of our players, we didn’t agree with the terms that was required for him to come back.”
Furthermore, Brown indicated that he expects the NBPA to appeal Irving’s suspension.
“There is an interesting distinction between what somebody says verbally and what somebody posts as a link on a platform with no description behind it,” Brown told the Boston Globe.
“Some people will argue there’s no difference and some people will argue there is a difference. There’s no language in our CBA. There’s no rules against it. This is uncharted territory for everybody, and everybody is trying to figure out the difference between the two.”
