A slap on the wrist. Actually, not even. This is how the Brooklyn Nets and the NBA have reacted to Kyrie Irving promoting an antisemitic film on Twitter.
For his part, Hall of Famer turned NBA analyst Charles Barkley is having none of it. The former 11-time All-Star went off on a recent NBA on TNT broadcast as he slammed commissioner Adam Silver for not suspending the enigmatic Nets superstar for his recent actions (h/t NBA on TNT on Twitter):
“I think the NBA dropped the ball,” Barkley said. “I think he should have been suspended. I think Adam should have suspended him. First of all, Adam's Jewish. ‘You can't take my $40 million and insult my religion.' … I think the NBA they made a mistake. We have suspended people and fined people who have made homophobic slurs — and that was the right thing to do. I think if you insult the Black community, you should be suspended or fined heavily.”
Barkley does have a point here. Last year, Meyers Leonard got himself kicked out of the league for uttering an antisemitic slur during a Twitch stream. He still hasn't been able to find a team in the NBA since. Then again, he's not Kyrie Irving.
Barkley then turned his attention to the Nets point guard as he criticized Kyrie for using his platform to promote division:
“I think him acknowledging the Alex Jones things, something should have happened with that too because that dude's crazy,” Barkley said. “… When you're somebody as great in basketball as him, people are gonna listen to what you say.”
Ernie Johnson then chimed in, stating that there are still “conversations” going on regarding Irving's case. However, Barkley clapped back by saying that he thinks it's all too late:
“The reason it's too late, the NBA's given in to peer pressure,” he continued. “If one of our players do something, the team or the league has to do something immediately. If you just give in to peer pressure, that's the problem I have. This should have been handled already.”
Do you agree with Charles Barkley's strong claims here?