Sick for a week LeBron James was clearly out of sorts on the pitch. Uncertain, he had wanted to play against the Jazz, and he did not deliver a great match. But he still appeared in front of the press, and unsurprisingly, he was asked about the case Kyrie Irving. The two won a title together, they broke up, then reconciled, and all summer long there was talk of a reunion at the Lakers. And so far, we haven’t heard from players about the Irving controversy, and his sharing of an anti-Semitic film.
“He apologized but he caused the wrong”
” Me personally, I don’t tolerate any hate whatsoever. Of no race. Whether it’s Jewish communities, black communities, Asian communities… You know where I stand” LeBron responds to the press. “And that’s partly why we didn’t air The Shop episode (editor’s note: with Kanye West), and pulled it from the archives. Because there was a hateful conversation. And I don’t endorse that. There is no place in this world for that. No one can benefit from this and I believe what Kyrie did hurt a lot of people. True, yesterday or today he apologized, but he caused harm and I think that is unfortunate. Don’t put yourself in a position to hurt people when it comes to your voice or your platform or anything. So it doesn’t matter the color of your skin, your size, your position. If you promote or say harmful things to a community that hurt people, then I don’t respect it, and I don’t condone it. »
“I hope he realizes that what he said was hurtful to a lot of people”
Since he knows Irving very well, how does he envisage the future for his former teammate?
” I don’t know… Because in the end, Kyrie is master of her destiny. He shows up in front of the media and speaks. He is a man and he comes from a beautiful family. I love this kid. He’s no longer a kid. He is 30 years old. He said it the other day in his press conference, and I thought that was crazy… I don’t know what route and steps he’s taking but he apologized for what he said and I hope he realizes that what he said hurt a lot of people. As humans, none of us are perfect, but I hope he understands that what he did and his actions are just hurtful to a lot of people. I haven’t really delved into it, but I know what happens when you hurt someone. It’s just common sense. »
