Jaylen Brown explains after his tweet highlighting a “hate group”

Kyrie Irving’s first lawyer during his suspension following the sharing of a conspiratorial and anti-Semitic film, Jaylen Brown in turn found himself under fire from critics for a tweet.

The Celtics fullback/winger retweeted a message showing the demonstration by members of the “Israel United in Christ” religious group, accompanying it with a word, “Energy”. Problem: this African-American religious group which claims to be the “true chosen people” is part of the most radical branch of the movement of the “Black Hebrew Israelites”classified as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center because he explains that white people are “the devil”, Jews are “fake Jews” and members of the LGBT community are “sinners”.

In front of the Barclays Center, its many members repeated religious slogans and handed out flyers to passers-by, notably entitled “The truth about anti-Semitism” and “The truth about slavery”.

First on Twitter, then in an interview, Jaylen Brown explained that he had confused this group with the Afro-American fraternity Omega Psi Phi, whose members indeed also wear purple clothes with gold letters.

“I saw a large group of people from our community show their support for [Kyrie] and on his returnexplained the vice-president of the players’ union. “I’m proud of this support and our community, but that doesn’t mean I condone or celebrate some of the things that have been done or said. »

Jaylen Brown therefore did not withdraw his tweet.

“My instinct, seeing that, is that I didn’t notice which group it was. I just noticed the support, and that’s what I commented on. I emphasize again that I do not approve of everything that is said or done, and that it does not represent me. » Boston player says he wanted to promote “black people mobilizing together on our issues, rather than seeing images of violence in our media, music and movies that we don’t fully promote or profit from. »

It’s still annoying to do it through such a problematic group, but Jaylen Brown was obviously extremely happy to see Kyrie Irving back on the pitch with Brooklyn.

“I’ve been in touch as a member of the union, as a former teammate, just to show my support for what Irving has been through.”concluded Jaylen Brown about his state of mind on the situation. “Being away from the game, of course, emotionally, it’s very hard in our league, but it’s also very hard for everyone who is a fan of the sport. Kyrie has contributed in so many ways to basketball, being able to come back and be on the court (before) last night, I thought was something to celebrate. I thought it was something to support. The NBA, Brooklyn Nets have decided any disagreements or concerns are obviously resolved and we’re moving on. I supported this decision. »