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The Detroit Pistons sent Kyrie Irving, who promoted an antisemitic film, a very Jewish message when he stepped up to the freethrow line on Sunday night.
By United with Israel Staff
In October, the Brooklyn Nets’ Kyrie Irving promoted a film featuring the views of virulently antisemitic strains of the Black Hebrew Israelites (BHI), an ironically named sect whose members praise Adolf Hitler, slander the Jewish community as “fake Jews,” and aggressively harass Jewish bystanders in American cities.
During the past several years, Jews have been murdered by criminals linked to the BHI philosophy, gunned down in New Jersey and attacked with a machete in Monsey.
Despite the group’s unhinged philosophy, which has been connected to violent crimes, Irving posted on a Twitter a link to a film promoting the group’s ideas, leading to widespread condemnation.
In the wake of this controversy, the Detroit Pistons sent Irving a very loud message on Sunday, the first night of the Jewish festival of Chanukah, which celebrates the triumph of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel over an invading army of Greek-Assyrians, who sought their destruction.
“When Kyrie Irving stepped to the free throw line late in the fourth quarter, the Detroit Pistons put a display on the Jumbotron that was seemingly an attempt to troll the star guard,” reported Sports Illustrated (SI).
“With a spinning globe and Happy Hanukkah graphic, the Pistons certainly chose an interesting combination of displays above their scoreboard, and at an interesting time as well,” added the SI report.
According to SI, “There seem[ed] to be some clear intentionality behind Detroit’s scoreboard display as Kyrie Irving stepped to the free throw line.”
Following Irving’s promotion of the antisemitic film, he received an eight-game suspension in November. While he initially refused to apologize, Irving eventually issued a statement reading, “I don’t stand for anything close to hate speech or antisemitism.”
The same day Irving issued that statement, a group of Black Hebrew Israelites marched in military formation outside the Nets stadium in Brooklyn, chanting slogans that appeared designed to menace members of the Jewish community.
Other high-profile celebrities, such as Kanye West, have expressed support for the deeply antisemitic strains of the BHI philosophy. Simultaneously, comedian Dave Chappelle publicly supported West and dismissed criticism of his statements. West subsequently professed his love for Hitler and extolled the so-called virtues of the Nazis on multiple occasions. West has also blamed Jews en masse for his personal and financial troubles, and began consorting with Holocaust-denier Nick Fuentes, whom he brought to a dinner with former president Donald Trump.
The public statements of people like West, Chappelle, and Irving have been made in a climate in which Jews in New York City are the victims of a hate crime every 16 hours. These incidents range from vicious violent assaults to verbal onslaughts.
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