Celtics star Jaylen Brown disagrees with Kyrie Irving's suspension

Celtics star Jaylen Brown disagrees with Kyrie Irving's suspension,Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown recently spoke out on the Brooklyn Nets' decision to suspend Kyrie Irving for at least five games in the aftermath of his antisemitism controversy.

Celtics star Jaylen Brown disagrees with Kyrie Irving’s suspension

Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown recently spoke out on the Brooklyn Nets’ decision to suspend Kyrie Irving for at least five games in the aftermath of his antisemitism controversy.

“I don’t believe Kyrie Irving is antisemitic,” Brown — who serves as vice president of the NBA Players’ Association (NBPA) — told Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. “I don’t think people in our governing bodies think he’s antisemitic. He made a mistake. We understand from an outside perspective how important sensitivity is to not condone hate speech and not condone anything of that nature. It’s sensitivity to the dialect around that. We don’t want to stand up for somebody in order to not condemn hate speech, but I don’t believe Kyrie Irving is antisemitic. And hopefully the NBA feels the same way.”

As pointed out by Audacy Sports’ Alex Reimer, Irving is the vice president of the NBAPA’s Executive Committee.

Brown and Irving were teammates for two seasons from 2017 through 2019 when “Uncle Drew” played in Boston.

“There is an interesting distinction between what somebody says verbally and what somebody posts as a link on a platform with no description behind it,” “JB” said. “Some people will argue there’s no difference and some people will argue there is a difference. There’s no language in our CBA. There’s no rules against it. This is uncharted territory for everybody, and everybody is trying to figure out the difference between the two.”

Two weeks ago, Irving shared an Amazon link on social media for a movie called “Heroes to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” a film that contains a host of antisemitic tropes and falsehoods about Jewish people. The movie also contains a fake quote from “Adolph” Hitler.

The former Rookie of the Year point guard faced intense backlash in the following days, and eventually, both the Nets and Irving donated $500,000 to anti-hate causes. This came after Irving’s father and stepmother reportedly met with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

NBA commissioner Adam Silver released a statement last Thursday, and he and Irving will be meeting in person today. When faced with questions last week regarding if he had any antisemitic beliefs, the seven-time All-Star gave a bizarre response.

Following Irving’s odd answers to media questions on Thursday, the ADL said that they wouldn’t be accepting his donation. After the suspension was announced, the 30-year-old eventually posted an apology on his Instagram account.

It was reported on Saturday that the Nets had provided Irving with a list of six “action items” that he must complete before rejoining the team.