How Kyrie Irving's anti-Semitism scandal went away
The Anti-Semitism Notebook is a weekly email newsletter published by the Forward. Sign up here to receive the full newsletter in your inbox every Thursday Who remembers when one of the NBA's most famous players released a documentary claiming that Jews fooled the world into thinking they were God's chosen people, including by making up the Holocaust? How many are there? Kyrie Irving's promotion of "Hebrews to Blacks" occurred around the same time as the anti-Semitic outburst of Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, and was a relatively short-lived protest.
While Irving was modest in saying that sharing the link was not promoting the film, he stoked tensions by denying it could be anti-Semitic, saying that, as the film suggests, Africans are He suggested that he was a true Jew.
He was suspended, donated to the Anti-Defamation League, made further inflammatory comments, had his contributions denied, but ultimately apologized and returned to court. Months later, he deleted his apologetic social media posts after being traded to Dallas from the Brooklyn Nets. Now that he's leading the Mavericks to the playoffs, concerns about his anti-Semitism allegations have all but disappeared. "This topic won't come up unless Kyrie Irving does something good," explained my colleague Louis Keene, who covered the original controversy. If that happens, Irving's legion of young fans will bemoan previous attempts to cancel him. Louis just published an article about his conversations with Jewish Mavericks fans who want Irving to succeed, whether they personally like him or not. "I forgot about anti-Semitism," said Ben Kalmenson, 28. He grimaced when he saw Iliving wearing a keffiyeh at a recent press conference, but quickly apologized. I still cringe when I see Irving win through the playoffs. Just like he did during the playoffs and Wednesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves. But I'm not saying he should have been kicked out of the league for sharing a film that concluded that Jews were responsible for black suffering. Above all, he seems like a weirdo who doesn't believe in vaccinations and doesn't really understand whether the Earth is flat or round. "A lot of young fans see Kyrie Irving as an iconoclastic figure with a personality that's sensitive to conspiracy theories," Louis told me. "He's very philanthropic, even by professional athlete standards, and very outspoken about social issues, so they just see him as a really, really good guy who's a little bit different."
The Kyrie Irving story shows how selective the organized Jewish world is when it comes to accusations of anti-Semitism. The American Jewish Committee and other influential groups have called on Amazon to continue selling anti-Semitic films on its Prime Video service after its CEO, Andy Jassy, refused to do so. In response, it immediately halted a campaign to persuade the company to remove the film. . The question now is what will happen to left-wing students on elite university campuses. But if Irving had played basketball 30 years ago, when Jewish organizations were focusing on how so-called "black anti-Semitism" threatened American Jews, reporters would immediately I might not have stopped to ask him about "Hebrews to Blacks" and his social media. A post in which he called Israelis "murderous oppressors" would have gotten more attention. In addition, the basketball team that Irving plays on features Mark Cuban, whom Louis called "a legend in the Jewish community," and Miriam, the wife of the late Jewish casino mogul and philanthropist Sheldon Adelson. There is also the fact that he is selling it to Adelson. And Irving is a celebrity. Jewish leaders have great influence not only on campus but also in Congress. But it's really, really hard to punish a superstar for making what is essentially a self-serving comment. "They realized that their power was somehow limited," Louis said.
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