The Nets guard Irving met with Silver this week after last month’s social media promotion of an anti-Semitic movie. Silver argued that Irving’s actions were detrimental.
In Washington After meeting with Nets star Kyrie Irving in person this week at the league’s headquarters in Manhattan, N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver stated on Thursday that he didn’t think Irving was antisemitic. After last month’s Twitter promotion of an anti-Semitic movie, Irving has come under fire.
“We had a direct and candid conversation,” Silver, who is Jewish, said in an interview with The New York Times, adding, “He’s someone I’ve known for a decade, and I’ve never heard an anti-Semitic word from him or, frankly, hate directed at any group.”
Whether or not he is antisemitic is irrelevant to the harm created by the publication of vile content, Silver continued in a subsequent phone call.
Silver refused to go into detail about his meeting with Irving, citing a confidentiality agreement they had made. After speaking at the Sports Business Journal’s Dealmakers Conference in Washington, Silver spoke with The Times. This was his first outing since Irving tweeted an Amazon link to an anti-Semitic movie, which sparked a firestorm.
“I think Amazon has to make decisions as well,” Silver said. He added, “My first instinct wasn’t that something, to me, that is so frankly vile and full of hate speech would be contained within Amazon Prime.”
The social media post had caused “enormous damage” to Irving, according to Silver, and “potentially” to the team and the league. He continued by saying that he was “certain” Irving wasn’t anti-Semitic.
