LeBron James addressed Kyrie Irving’s recent antisemitic behavior.
During a postgame press conference on Friday, LeBron spoke briefly about his former Cleveland Cavalier teammate’s recent controversy.
“I believe that what Kyrie did caused some harm to a lot of people,” Lebron says. “And he has since, over the last, I think it was today, or yesterday, he apologized. But he caused some harm and I think it’s unfortunate.”
LeBron continued his statement and made it clear that he does not approve of how Kyrie hurt some individuals with his behavior.
“But I don’t stand on the position to harm people when it comes to your voice or your platform or anything. So it doesn’t matter what color your skin is, how tall you are, what position you’re in. If you are promoting or soliciting or saying harmful things to any community that harms people, then I don’t respect it. I don’t condone it,” he added.
The NBA star also addressed why Kanye West’s episode on his talk show “The Shop” was scrapped.
“I can tell you this, it’s simple. Me personally, I don’t condone any hate to any kind. To any race. To Jewish communities, to Black communities, to Asian communities. You guys know where I stand,” James said. “And that’s part of the reason why I didn’t air The Shop episode, why we kicked that out of the archives. Because it was hate conversation going on there. And I don’t represent that. There’s no place in this world for it.”
As we’ve previously reported, Kyrie faced backlash after recently supporting an antisemitism film. As a result, Kyrie was put on an unpaid suspension by the Brooklyn Nets and released from his Nike shoe deal contract.
"I don't condone any hate. To any kind, any race…What Kyrie did caused some harm to a lot of people…I don't respect it."
Here was LeBron to @mcten on Kyrie's post. He brought up The Shop episode with Ye that was scrapped. pic.twitter.com/0psjUALyft
— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvo_) November 5, 2022
