Following a five-game suspension, Kyrie Irving is now eligible to rejoin his team, the Brooklyn Nets.
The end of his suspension came just in time for the team’s Sunday night game against the Grizzlies at Barclays.
Irving attended the Nets shootaround Sunday morning following his October 27th post of a link to the controversial movie, “Hebrew to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” a film about antisemitic tropes.
“I don’t stand for anything close to hate speech or antisemitism or anything that is going against the human race,” Irving told reporters.
“I feel like we all should have an opportunity to speak for ourselves when things are assumed about us and I feel it was necessary for me to stand in this place and take accountability for my actions because there was a way I should have handled all this and as I look back and reflect when I had the opportunity to offer my deep regrets to anyone that felt threatened or felt hurt by what I posted, that wasn’t my intent at all.”
The 30-year-old also spoke about growing up in a “racial harmonious environment” in New Jersey, saying, “If you know anything about West Orange, New Jersey, I don’t think I could grow up as an antisemite in that environment because of how much alliance that we feel to one another.”
He has since deleted the tweet however refused to apologize for bringing attention to the movie attention. As a result, the team suspended him on November 3, saying he was “unfit” to be a Net.
But the NBA felt Irving made up for his actions.
“Kyrie took ownership of this journey and had conversations with several members of the Jewish community,” the Nets said in a statement on Sunday. “We are pleased that he is going about the process in a meaningful way.”
Crystal Gross
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