Boomer Esiason Slams Kyrie Irving For Becoming Distraction To Brooklyn Nets After Anti-Semitic Posts: He’s ‘Ripping the Heart Out of This Franchise’

Former NFL quarterback and WFAN host Boomer Esiason ripped Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving for posting an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory Twitter.

Irving posted a clip from the documentary “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America” to his Twitter feed. The tweet landed Irving in a back-and-forth argument with ESPN reporter Nick Friedell — grilled Irving at a news conference Saturday night about using his platform to promote the clip and the support Irving had for Alex Jones, who is a notable proponent of the conspiracy theories seen in the film. Irving quickly distanced himself from Jones and comments Jones about Sandy Hook school shooting victims faking the tragedy.

Yet the Nets star did voice his support the 2018 clip of Jones he shared.

“My post was a post from Alex Jones that he did in the early nineties or late nineties about secret societies in America of a cult,” Irving said. “And it’s true.”

The shared clip led to Nets owner Joe Tsai condemning Irving’s actions.

“I’m disappointed that Kyrie appears to support a film based on a book full of anti-Semitic disinformation. I want to sit down and make sure he understands this is hurtful to all of us, and as a man of faith, it is wrong to promote hate based on race, ethnicity, or religion,” Tsai wrote in a tweet.

The NBA also condemned Irving and the shared clip in a statement that read:

“Hate speech of any kind is unacceptable and runs counter to the NBA’s values of equality, inclusion and respect. We believe we all have the role to play in ensuring such words or ideas, including antisemitic ones, are challenged and refuted and we will continue working with all members of the NBA community to ensure that everyone understands the impact of their words and actions.”

On Monday morning, Esiason ripped Irving after sharing the documentary clip and believes he put the organization in a tough spot.

“This thing is just another thing, in a long line of things, that he has done to this franchise,” Esiason said. “I mean, he is ripping the heart out of this franchise. And he has done it for four years now.”

Esiason elaborated that players should have the right to express themselves freely, but there could be consequences for their expressions.

“A lot of times we always hear, ‘just play basketball, just play football, don’t get involved in these other things,’ I’m not one of those people,” Esiason continued. “If you want to get involved, get involved. But if you get involved, you have to recognize what it does to your teammates, what it does to your team.”

Esiason explained that Irving would need to answer for his actions, regardless of his freedom to share his stance.

“Freedom of expression and freedom of speech basically comes with consequences,” Esiason added.

Esiason’s co-host, Gregg Giannotti, argued that Irving did in fact promote the documentary — something the Nets guard denied on Saturday.

“So this film was from 2018?” Giannotti asked. “So it wasn’t even something that just came out. So obviously he watched it, believed what was in this film, and decided to put it out there to promote it. Which he certainly did, I’m sorry, unless he writes something on there like, ‘don’t watch this, this is ridiculous’ then you’re promoting it on your social media.”

Esiason believed Irving’s stance with the organization was at an all-time low since Tsai spoke out against the shared clip.

“I haven’t watched the film, I’ve certainly didn’t read the book,” Esiason said. “I was going through all the different reactions to Kyrie. And of course, he elicits a lot of reactions from a lot of different people, and he is an influencer. There is no question about it, that is why the NBA is so popular because of guys like him interact with people on social media. The fact that he retweeted the Amazon movie, and the link to the movie, and the way Joe Tsai, the owner of the Nets, reacted to it. Tells me all I need to know.”

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