In the wake of promoting an anti-Semitic film on his social media platforms, Kyrie Irving has been linked to dangerously controversial figures such as Alex Jones and Louis Farrakhan, but the NBA star’s most recent defender is Joe Rogan.
Rogan noted that he was not defending Irving for endorsing an anti-Semitic film, but rather that he was defending Irving from being punished, and urged more blame to be placed on Amazon for selling the film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noFqFUXgi5g
“Kyrie posted a link to a video of his story and that’s what got him in trouble,” the polarizing podcast host said on the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience with guest Neil Brennan. “But isn’t that video for sale on Amazon? It’s the craziest thing ever. Kyrie getting in trouble and Amazon not? All you want from him is because he watched a video and sent a link to the one you’re selling. That’s f*king wild.”
The misunderstanding surrounding Irving’s latest self-inflicted controversy is speculation that he is serving a suspension from the Brooklyn Nets over his Oct. 27 social media post. Hebrew to Negro: Black America Wake Up On Amazon, a movie and book that contain anti-Semitic tropes. While Irving was not suspended indefinitely and given a list of tasks to complete before returning to the court because he tweeted the Amazon link, he was suspended for failing to properly apologize or disavow any of his own dissenting views.
“The film is still for sale! They want him (Kyrie Irving) to give up a million and a half dollars,” Rogan teased. “They want him to make a public apology, talk to different leaders and the f*cking video, he just posted a link…the video is for sale on Amazon! It’s wild that no one has a problem with that. “
But many people have a problem with this. Stephen A. Smith urged Jeff Bezos to remove the film from Amazon, and ESPN’s Jay Williams made a similar request to hold the ecommerce company accountable. Last week, a group of celebrities and activists sent Bezos a public letter urging him to remove the film and book from Amazon.
While it’s fair to hold Amazon accountable, a celebrity and influencer positioning themselves as a supporter of an offensive film is going to garner more condemnation than the company selling the film. There are libraries that stock books with offensive tropes on their shelves, but the person promoting those stories always attracts more ire and attention than the institution that stores them.
Amazon is still offering this when this post was published on November 16th Hebrew to Negro: Black America Wake Up on Prime Video.
[The Joe Rogan Experience]
