Fans wearing matching shirts watch Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving (11) during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Indiana Pacers Monday, Oct. 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh) (Jessie Alcheh, AP)
First, Kyrie Irving was suspended by the Nets and now by his sneaker company. Nike announced that they will be suspending their relationship with Irving after he posted a link to a film that is widely recognized as antisemitic and struggled to issue a timely, sound apology.
“At Nike, we believe there is no place for hate speech and we condemn any form of antisemitism,” the company said in their statement. “To that end, we’ve made the decision to suspend our relationship with Kyrie Irving effective immediately and will no longer launch the Kyrie 8 [Irving’s next signature sneaker]. We are deeply saddened and disappointed by the situation and its impact on everyone.”
Irving is currently serving a five-game suspension from the Nets due to his handling of the situation with the press and did not “acknowledge specific hateful material in the film.”
Nike is the first major domino to fall in terms of suspending their partnership with Irving and there may be more to come.
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Originally published at Tribune News Service