Charles Barkley, a former NBA player, criticized Jewish NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for not punishing Brooklyn Nets All-Star Kyrie Irving when he used his Twitter account to promote an anti-Semitic movie.
“I believe Adam ought to have put him on leave. Adam is, first of all, Jewish. In a part of the well-liked “NBA on TNT” panels that air on the network before, during, and after game broadcasts on Tuesday night, Barkley referred to Irving’s contract and said, “You can’t take my $40 million and disrespect my faith.
According to Barkley, the correct thing to do was for the NBA to suspend and punish players who made homophobic remarks.
“You should be suspended from work or penalized severely if you offend the Black community.”
A veteran TNT panelist and fellow NBA star Shaquille O’Neal referred to Irving as “an idiot” for posting a link to a movie that promotes, among other antisemitic conspiracy theories, the notion that Jews controlled the slave trade.
Barkley, who has previously called out antisemitism among Black athletes and who has a Jewish son-in-law, was the most recent to join a chorus of critical remarks directed at Irving, the Nets, and the NBA on the circumstance.
Irving has not received any punishment; the Nets’ general manager stated on Tuesday that the franchise is in talks with the Anti-Defamation League regarding the following measures. Irving doubled down on his right to share a link to the movie but afterward removed his tweet.
Nike, the principal sponsor of Irving, issued a statement condemning all sorts of hate speech.
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