Over the past week, Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving has been at the center of quite a controversy after he shared a link to an antisemitic film on Twitter then initially defended his actions and refused to delete the Tweet. Irving did eventually delete the Tweet and share a statement acknowledging the impact of his actions and donated $500,000, but that isn’t good enough to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
On Thursday morning, Adam Silver shared a statement absolutely blasting Kyrie Irving for his “reckless decision,” saying that he will be meeting with the Nets guard next week to “discuss this situation.”
“Kyrie Irving made a reckless decision to post a link to a film containing deeply offensive antisemitic material. 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 publicize. I will be meeting with Kyrie in person in the next week to discuss this situation,” Silver said in his statement.
Silver’s statement came just a few hours after Kanye West shared a photo of Irving, apparently supporting the Nets star after his own antisemitism controversy.