Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets takes on the Boston Celtics in the 2021 NBA Qualifiers on May 25, 2021 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Nathaniel S. Butler | National Basketball Association | beautiful pictures
Kyrie Irving returned to the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday and apologized to anyone who felt threatened or hurt when he posted a link to an anti-Semitic documentary.
Irving is suspended by the team on November 3, hours after he refused to say he had no anti-Semitic beliefs when he met with reporters at the Nets practice.
Back in the building to prepare for the team’s morning shoot, Irving said he should have handled that interview differently.
“I am not advocating anything close to hate speech or anti-Semitism or anything against humanity,” Irving said. “I feel like we should all have a chance to speak for ourselves when everything is assumed about us and I feel the need to stand here and take responsibility for our actions, because I should have had a way of handling all of this and as I look back and reflect when I have had the opportunity to express my deep regret to anyone who felt threatened or hurt by the what I posted, that was not my intention at all.”
Irving missed eight games during the suspension, which the Nets said will feature a minimum of five unpaid matches. The team said he is ready to play in Sunday night’s home game against Memphis.
Irving said he was initially looking for more information about his legacy when he posted a link to “Hebrew for Blacks: Awakening Black America” on his Twitter page. When he was first asked about it, he was challenge my right to post material that he cares about. He then refused to apologize or clarify his religious beliefs in another interview a few days later, leading to his suspension.
“I rightly defended that there was a presumption that I might be anti-Semitic, or that I wanted to post a documentary to stand with all of the views in the documentary,” Irving said. added, “How can you call someone an anti-Semitic if you don’t know them?”
