Nike ended its million-dollar contract with Kyrie Irving, the NBA promoting anti-Semitic content

“Kyrie Irving has stopped being a Nike athlete.” With this brief official statement from a spokesperson, the sportswear and footwear brand has ended its relationship with the base brooklyn networks. While there was no official explanation, it falls short: the scandal involving the star of the NBA to the promote anti-Semitic content.

The collaboration between Nike and Irving has produced several lines of shoes that are still on sale on the sports brand’s website. The contract was valued at 11 million dollarsaccording to specialized media, one of the juiciest among basketball players.

Nike canceled the deal in November after Irving promoted anti-Semitic content on his social media and halted the launch of the Kyrie 8 shoe line. “At Nike, we believe that there is no place for hate speech and we condemn all forms of anti-Semitism,” the brand said later.

Now the company has announced the definitive end of the fruitful collaboration that produced some of the most popular shoes in the American basketball league.

Irving did not take a direct position on this decision, but on his Twitter account he responded with a gif and the caption “Let the party begin” to Shams Charania, journalist of The Athletic, one of the first to disclose the information. Additionally, the 30-year-old star tweeted another gif with the caption: “Being free is priceless”.

“Anyone who has spent their hard earned money on something I’ve released, I consider them family and we will be connected forever. Time to show how strong we are as a community,” he also tweeted on Monday.

The origin of the scandal

Seven-time All-Star Irving last October posted a link to the film “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” which contains anti-Semitic material. It’s a film based on a book of the same title, released in 2015, which includes claims such as, for example, that “many famous Jews have admitted to praying to Satan or Lucifer.”

The gesture sparked an avalanche of criticism from the Jewish community and the NBA itself. former players like Shaquille O’Neal and the commissioner of the american league, Adam SilverThey condemned the action.

The Brooklyn Nets sanctioned him with an eight-game suspensionwhich sports media reported reduced Irving’s salary by more than $2 million.

“We were appalled that Kyrie refused to state unequivocally that he has no anti-Semitic beliefs and that he didn’t even acknowledge the particularly hateful material in the film. This wasn’t the first time he’s had the opportunity – and he squandered it. — to come clean,” the franchise explained at the time.

The player initially refused to apologize, but under pressure he went online and announced a donation to the Jewish organization Anti-Defamation League.

“I want to clear up any confusion about my position on the fight against anti-Semitism by apologizing for posting the (link to) documentary without context and without an objective explanation outlining the specific beliefs in the documentary that I agree with and disagree with ‘deal No,’ wrote Irving.

No explanation was enough.