American basketball player Kyrie Irving apologised on Thursday after he was suspended by his club, the Brooklyn Nets, amid anti-semitism allegations.
The NBA (National Basketball Association) star received a five-game ban after he defended his decision to post a link to a documentary that has been criticised as anti-semitic on social media. Taking to Twitter, the Brooklyn Nets said that Mr Irving refused on multiple occasions to disavow anti-semitism or state he is not anti-semitic, which "constitutes conduct detrimental to the team".
"Accordingly, we are of the view that he is currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets. We have decided that Kyrie will serve a suspension without pay until he satisfies a series of objective remedial that address the harmful impact of his conduct and the suspension period served is no less than five games," the team added in a statement.
However, hours after the club issued the strongly worded statement, Mr Irving posted the apology on his verified Instagram account, saying he takes full responsibility for his decision to share the content with his nearly five million followers on Twitter.
"To All Jewish families and Communities that are hurt and affected from my post, I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize," he wrote, adding, "I initially reacted out of emotion to being unjustly labeled Anti-Semitic, instead of focusing on the healing process of my Jewish Brothers and Sisters that were hurt from the hateful remarks made in the Documentary".
The NBA star also stated he had "no intentions" to disrespect any Jewish cultural history regarding the Holocaust or perpetuate any hate. "I am learning from this unfortunate event and hope we can find understanding between us all," Mr Irving continued.
But even though the basketball player backtracked from his initial statement, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said it could not "in good conscience accept" Irving's donation of $500,000 towards the anti-hate organisation. As per CNN, ADL stated that it was clear that "Kyrie feels no accountability for his actions".
"(Irving) has been given ample opportunity to do the right thing, apologize and condemn #antisemitism. He has failed at almost every step along the way. This suspension is well-deserved," the organisation added.
Notably, Mr Irving tweeted a link to a 2018 film 'Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,' which is based on Ronald Dalton's book of the same name and has been blasted as being antisemitic by civil rights groups. But following an outcry, he deleted his original post and pledged to donate $500,000 towards anti-hate organizations.
