There is no turning back now.
The Brooklyn Nets have had enough, suspending controversial and talented guard Kyrie Irving for at least five games after he failed to "unequivocally" apologize for sharing a link last weekend on Twitter to a video "Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America" that lampoons Jews with many false claims.
The Nets tried to smooth things over with Irving. They protected him from speaking with the media on Monday and Tuesday of this week, even after owner Joe Tsai condemned Irving's posts over the weekend.
They tried to work with Irving and the Anti-Defamation League by agreeing to pay $500,000 a piece to educational opportunities for communities to better understand and accept all races, creeds and religions.
Even commissioner Adam Silver waited until Thursday before condemning Irving's posts and remarks.
In reality the final straw came Thursday when Irving refused to apologize for his posts, and refused to answer a reporters question that Irving, himself, is not antisemitic. VIEW ON TWITTER
"This is not going to turn into a spin around cycle of questions after questions. I told you guys how I felt. I respect all walks of life. I can’t be antisemitic if I know where I come from."
The Nets soon issued a statement expressing their disappointment in Irving for not apologizing. Jonathan Greenblat of the ADL quickly re-tweeted his appreciation for the Nets swift action.
The question is is Irving's career over in Brooklyn? Most likely. There is no way this kind of behavior can be tolerated. The NBA was one of the first in to jump on the social justice movement two years ago in light of the George Floyd atrocity that took place in Minnesota. They should be first in line here as well -- even if it took them and the Nets almost a whole week to respond with a punishment, amid criticism. Racism and bigotry in any form should not be tolerated. Ever.
The Nets have made a lot of mistakes over the past week. They fired a good man in Steve Nash, as General Manager Sean Marks continued to give autonomy to the players like Irving and Kevin Durant. Neither respected Nash, and despite the former Phoneix Suns' MVP's best efforts, he couldn't win with a dysfunctional team.
Now they are rumored to be interested in hiring Boston's Ime Udoka, who was suspended for a year for sexual harassment allegations against a former female employee, with whom Udoka had a "inappropriate" relationship.
Talk about bad timing and tone deaf? The Nets are about to from the frying pan to the fire should they hire Udoka. Instead of just eight Jewish people sitting court side to protest antisemitism, as was the case this week, the last thing they want to deal with is the #MeToo movement coming to their doorstep.
The Nets have embarrassed themselves this week. They jumped into the fire by giving superstar players too much power, and now they are paying the price. Only they can fix it.
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