Star basketball player Kyrie Irving is being ordered to renounce his sincerely held religious beliefs, undergo “anti-Semitic/anti-hate training” and more in order to be allowed to play again for the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA.
Irving was suspended by the Nets on Thursday for failing to apologize profusely enough for sharing a link to an “anti-Semitic” documentary on social media.
The Athletic on Saturday shared the following list of “six action items he must complete” in order to play again for his team.
1. Issue an apology for posting a link to the movie on Oct. 27, condemn the harmful and false content and make clear that he does not have anti-Jewish beliefs.
2. Complete the anti-hate causes that Irving, the Nets and the Anti-Defamation League agreed upon in their joint release on Nov. 2 — including a $500,000 donation toward causes and organizations that work to eradicate hate and intolerance in communities.
3. Complete sensitivity training created by the Nets.
4. Complete antisemitic/anti-hate training designed by the Nets.
5. Meet with representatives from the Anti-Defamation League, as well as Jewish community leaders in Brooklyn.
6. After completing 1 to 5, meet with owner Joe Tsai and lead franchise officials and demonstrate the lessons learned and that the gravity of the harm caused in the situation is understood, and provide assurances that this type of behavior will not be repeated.
Irving has made it clear that he believes he’s an Israelite/Semite.
The movie he tweeted, Hebrews to Negroes, puts forward Black Hebrew Israelite ideas, which is a unique mixture of Judaism and Christianity. By demanding he renounce the film, they’re demanding he renounce his sincerely held religious beliefs.
By demanding he complete “sensitivity training” and “antisemitic/anti-hate training” and provide assurances he has no “anti-Jewish beliefs,” they’re demanding he renounce his religion and defining his religion as “hate.”
They’re demanding this of him in order to play basketball — i.e. throw a ball into a hoop.
The ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt, Brooklyn Nets parent owner BSE Global CEO Sam Zussman and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver — all of whom are Jewish — are demanding Irving renounce his religious beliefs because his religious beliefs contradict theirs.
Imagine if a Christian NBA franchise owner suspended a Jewish player for not believing in the divinity of Christ and told him he couldn’t play again unless he denounced the anti-Jesus portions of the Talmud and agreed to go to Sunday school and meet the Pope.
Irving could choose to identify as a woman and get nothing but praise from these same people but he’s not allowed to identify as an Israelite? How does that make any sense?
Irving needs to sue the Brooklyn Nets and the NBA for religious discrimination and the ADL needs to be prosecuted for extortion.
This post was originally published at Information Liberation