It seems safe to say that Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant wasn’t entirely on board with the team’s decision to suspend Kyrie Irving for refusing to condemn anti-semitism. But he may have realized that he made a big mistake in rushing to defend Kyrie as quickly as he did.
At practice today, Durant told the media that he doesn’t want to judge someone or talk down to anyone over their views. He felt that the team could have handled their issue with Kyrie privately instead of publicly.
However, Durant apparently realized that his statement to the media wasn’t the unifying voice that he probably thought it was. He took to Twitter a short while ago to clarify what he said, stating that he does not condone hate speech or anti-semitism and just wants to use basketball to unify others.
“Just wanna clarify the statements I made at shootaround, I see some people are confused..I don’t condone hate speech or anti-(semitism), I’m about spreading love always. Our game Unites people and I wanna make sure that’s at the forefront,” Durant wrote.
The Brooklyn Nets suspended Kyrie Irving for five games and mandated that he take steps to demonstrate that he is committed to battling anti-semitism.
Yesterday afternoon, Kyrie gave a media interview where he refused to apologize for promoting an anti-semitic film. The backlash was so strong that the NBA Commissioner personally admonished him for it and demanded that Kyrie meet with him to address the situation.
Later that day, the Nets announced that they were suspending him.
But it’s clear that the Nets’ decision wasn’t universally agreed on.