NBPA President CJ McCollum Comments on Kyrie Irving Situation

The Pelicans guard spoke at length about the matter Saturday, two days after the Nets suspended their star point guard.

Pelicans guard CJ McCollum, who also serves as the president of the National Basketball Players Association, addressed Kyrie Irving’s recent promotion of an antisemitic film and the subsequent fallout for the first time since the controversy began.

Following New Orleans’s loss to Atlanta on Saturday night, McCollum called the situation involving Irving a “learning experience” for all players around the league and pointed to the importance of Irving’s taking a step in the right direction by apologizing. 

“I think the important part was he did apologize,” McCollum said, per ESPN’s Andrew Lopez, referencing the apology Irving posted on Instagram hours after he was suspended for “no less than five games” by the Nets. 

“He’s displayed empathy now. I think this is a learning experience in which I don’t think he understood the magnitude of the movie. … I don’t think he understood the magnitude of the people that were affected, how they were impacted and how fast hate can spread and how this can snowball.”

In the apology posted to Instagram, Irving wrote that the film he tweeted a link to–Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America–contained “some false anti-Semitic statements, narratives, and language that were untrue and offensive to the Jewish Race/Religion.” He added that he takes “full accountability and responsibly [sic] for [his] actions,” and that he “wants to move forward by having an open dialogue to learn more and grow from this.”

McCollum made clear in his latest press conference that he condemns antisemitism “in any form.”

“It’s safe to say that we know that Kyrie and all of us–me specifically, I can speak for myself–specifically condemn antisemitism in any form,” McCollum said. “I am specifically against it. I specifically believe in promoting equality, diversity of inclusion.”

Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports reported that Irving must complete a series of requirements to receive the approval of the franchise’s leadership before he can suit up again for the Nets. Among the tasks he must complete is giving a verbal apology to the media for sharing the film, completing sensitivity training under the direction of the team and meeting with Jewish leaders in the Brooklyn community before meeting with Nets owner Joe Tsai. 

The Athletic’s Shams Charania also reports that Irving will need to donate $500,000 to anti-hate causes and meet with the Anti-Defamation League.

McCollum, who said he did not speak for all of the league’s players in his remarks, explained that he hoped Irving’s latest actions will show the rest of his peers the importance of using their platforms carefully. 

“The important thing to learn about this situation is you have a platform. You have to be careful with how you use it,” McCollum said. “You have to vet everything you post. I think this is a situation we can all use as a learning experience for all of us as players. … You have to be careful with what you’re posting.

“You have to know exactly what it is, and you have to research and educate yourself on all religions and all backgrounds and all races so that you are comfortable speaking to that. I think this is an unfortunate situation where a lot of people were affected and a lot of people were harmed by this. It was tough.”

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