Nets' Kyrie Irving Apologizes to Jewish Community After Promoting Antisemitic Film

Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving issued an apology to the Jewish community Thursday night after promoting an antisemitic film—Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America—on social media last week.

Irving said in a statement on Instagram:

"While doing research on YHWH, I posted a Documentary that contained some false anti-Semitic statements, narratives, and language that were untrue and offensive to the Jewish Race/Religion, and I take full accountability and responsibly for my actions. I am grateful to have a big platform to share knowledge and I want to move forward by having an open dialogue to learn more and grow from this.

"To All Jewish families and Communities that are hurt and affected from my post, I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize. I initially reacted out of emotion to being unjustly labeled Anti-Semitic, instead of focusing on the healing process of my Jewish Brothers and Sisters that were hurt from the hateful remarks made in the Documentary. I want to clarify any confusion on where I stand fighting against Anti- semticism by apologizing for posting the documentary without context and a factual explanation outlining the specific beliefs in the Documentary I agreed with and disagreed with. I had no intentions to disrespect any Jewish cultural history regarding the Holocaust or perpetuate any hate. I am learning from this unfortunate event and hope we can find understanding between us all. I am no different than any other human being. I am a seeker of truth and knowledge, and I know who I Am."

Irving promoted the film Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America on his social media accounts last week. It contains ideas "in line with more extreme factions of the Black Hebrew Israelites, which have a long history of misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and especially antisemitism," according to a Rolling Stone article published by Jon Blistein.

Nets governor Joe Tsai responded to Irving's actions in a Twitter post on Oct. 28, writing that he was "disappointed" in the veteran point guard and wanted to meet with him so that he recognized his actions were harmful:

The Nets organization also released a statement the same day condemning hate speech, via The Athletic's Alex Schiffer:

“The Brooklyn Nets strongly condemn and have no tolerance for the promotion of any form of hate speech. 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.”

In addition, the Nets, Irving and the Anti-Defamation League announced in a press release Wednesday that Irving and the Nets would each donate $500,000 to go towards fighting hate speech and bigotry, but ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said Thursday that Irving's donation would not be accepted, saying that he couldn't accept because Irving "feels no accountability for his actions":

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement Thursday that he was "disappointed" Irving had not "offered an unqualified apology and more specifically denounced the vile and harmful content contained in the film he chose to publicize":

Irving was given a number of chances to address the situation while meeting with reporters this week. On Thursday, he was asked directly if he had "antisemitic beliefs," but his response was unclear:

The Nets then announced Thursday night that they had suspended Irving for at least five games after he "refused to unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs" during Thursday's media session:

The earliest the 30-year-old can return to the court is Nov. 13 against the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena.