Does Kyrie Irving hold antisemitic beliefs? 'I cannot be antisemitic if I know where I come from'

"I can ask a better question: Where were you when I was a kid figuring out that 300 million of my ancestors are buried in America? Where were you guys asking those same questions when I was a kid dealing with learning about the traumatic events of my familial history and where I'm proud to come from and why I'm proud to stand here and why, when I repeat myself that I'm not going to stand down, it has nothing to do with dismissing any other race or group of people?

"I am just proud of my heritage and what we've been through, and the fact that this has pinned me against the Jewish community and I'm here answering questions about whether or not I'm sorry on something I didn't create, and it was something I shared, and I'm telling everybody I'm taking responsibility, then that's where I sit. These same questions that you guys ask, me dealing with it as being a melanated, pigmented person, all around the world, and dealing with racial biases against my skin color, demeaning me because of my religious beliefs, and I'm still sitting in this seat standing, so I take my full responsibility — again, I'll repeat it — for posting something on my Instagram or Twitter that may have had some unfortunate falsehoods in it.

"But I'm also a human being that's 30 years old, and I've been growing up in a country that's told me I wasn't worth anything and I came from a slave class and that I come from a people who are meant to be treated the way that we get treated every day. So, I'm not here to compare anyone's atrocities or tragic events that their families have dealt for with generations of time. I'm just here to continue to expose things that our world continues to put in darkness.

"I'm a light. I'm a beacon of light. It's what I'm here to do. You guys ask me questions about basketball, I give you my expert opinion. You guys ask me about other things, I give you my opinion, and it's met with whatever you believe the perception or the deception is. You guys investigate my life every day, and you justify it by serving your own purpose, which I honor.

"I would like the same respect in return. I'm figuring it out just like anyone else, so please keep that same energy when we're talking about anti- other things. Just because I post a documentary doesn't mean I'm antisemitic and doesn't mean that I'm automatically standing with everyone that is believing in that, so it's unfortunate timing that we're in, but I'm glad that I could stand on the truth, because I'm not afraid of these mics, these cameras.

"I used to be — looking everyone in the eye and telling them the truth, that I'm proud of who I am. Any label you put on me, I'm able to dismiss, because I study. I know the Oxford dictionary. You can look it up, right? One of the biggest mistakes I had in being a kid was not knowing European or Western language, until I started looking it up and understanding the definitions and why they say, 'If you want to trick a Black person, put it in a book.' I was wondering my whole life why they said that. Now, I'm 30 years old, and I know that reading is a superstar, because it helps me understand where I'm going and where I come from, like a tree with roots."

“Kyrie Irving made a reckless decision to post a link to a film containing deeply offensive antisemitic material," Silver said in his statement. "While we appreciate the fact that he agreed to work with the Brooklyn Nets and the Anti-Defamation League to combat antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, I am disappointed that he has not offered an unqualified apology and more specifically denounced the vile and harmful content contained in the film he chose to publicize. I will be meeting with Kyrie in person in the next week to discuss this situation.”