If there was a path to mending the situation after Kyrie Irving’s retweet of an anti-Semitic movie last week, Irving himself put a torch to it while addressing reporters.
Speaking to reporters for the second time since his promotion of the film, “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” Irving refused to say he was sorry, refused to say he didn’t hold anti-Semitic beliefs, refused to say the Holocaust happened and cast himself as the victim in the entire saga.
Irving was cut off by Nets PR after just six minutes of answering questions.
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“I cannot be anti-Semitic if I know where I come from,” he said.
The documentary Irving promoted advances the anti-Semitic and false thesis that Black people are the “chosen ones,” from Israel, and have been victimised by Jews. It lists “five major falsehoods” that Jews have perpetuated to retain power, including the Holocaust.
Irving said that some things in the documentary were “questionable” and “untrue.” Asked specifically what those things were, he said, “I think some of the criticism of the Jewish faith and the community for sure.”
Some, but not all.
Asked whether he believes the Holocaust happened, Irving did not give a direct answer.
“It’s not that I don’t believe in the Holocaust, I never said that,” Irving said. “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.”
Less than an hour before Irving spoke, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who is Jewish, released a statement blasting Irving’s non-apology from Wednesday night and saying he planned to meet with Irving to discuss the situation in-person.
“While we appreciate the fact that he agreed to work with the Brooklyn Nets and the Anti-Defamation League to combat antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, 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 publicise,” Silver said.
It is hard to imagine that Irving’s press conference will do anything to placate Silver. Irving sidestepped when asked whether he personally met with the ADL, saying, “I was informed that they wanted to have a meeting and we handled it.”
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The Post reported on Tuesday that Irving sent a proxy to a meeting with the ADL, whose CEO Jonathan Greenblatt had personally talked with Nets owner Joe Tsai.
Brooklyn is one of the most Jewish communities in the country, with heavily orthodox neighbourhoods including Borough Park and Williamsburg. Every time Irving was asked to address his beliefs toward the Jewish community, though, he gave an answer about racism in America.
“Where were you when I was a kid, figuring out that 300 million of my ancestors are buried in America?” Irving said. “Where were you guys asking those same questions when I was a kid learning about the traumatic events of my familial history and what I’m proud to come from and why I’m proud to stand here and why when I repeat myself that I’m not gonna stand down it has nothing to do with dismissing any other race and group of people. I’m just proud of my heritage and what we’ve been through.
“The fact that this has pinned me against the Jewish community and I’m here answering questions of whether I’m sorry or not on something I didn’t create, something I shared and I’m telling everybody I’m taking responsibility, then that’s where I sit.”
As part of the same answer, which went on for over three minutes, Irving added: “I’m not here to compare anyone’s atrocities or tragic events that their families have dealt with for generations of time. I’m just here to continue to expose things that our world continues to put in darkness. I’m a light. I’m a beacon of light.”
On Thursday, though, the shadow cast by Irving over the Nets franchise was darker than ever.
