Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown appeared to clarify his support of a group that appeared outside the Barclays Center upon the return of Kyrie Irving to the Brooklyn Nets following his suspension.
Black Hebrew Israelites put on a large display outside the arena. The group is connected to the antisemitic film on Amazon that Irving posted to his social media, leading to his eight-game suspension by the Nets.
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Brown initially tweeted, “energy.”
But hours after it was revealed who the group was, the Celtics guard clarified what his tweet meant.
“I was not aware of what specific group that was outside of Barclay’s Center tonight,” Brown wrote.” I was celebrating the unification of our people welcoming the return of Kyrie to the court, first glance I thought it was a known fraternity the (C/Que’s) Omega psi phi (step’n) showing support.”
Brown was vocal about Nets owner Joe Tsai’s comments regarding Irving’s suspension, where he said the controversial point guard “still had work to do.” Brown, one of the vice presidents of the National Basketball Players Association, initially called Tsai’s remarks on Irving returning “alarming.”
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“[Tsai’s] response was alarming to me,” Brown said via the New York Post. “He didn’t say that the organization was working together to get Kyrie back on the floor. He said that [Kyrie] had more work to do. And our society has more work to do, including Joe Tsai. It’s 2022. It takes 10 minutes of time to see who these business owners, corporations, etc., who they’re associated with and who they’re doing business with, who they’re affiliated with.”
“I’m vice president of the union, and it’s part of my job to protect our players legally. And to see [co-founder and chairman of Nike] Phil Knight first come out and condemn Kyrie, and also see Joe Tsai say he has more work to do, I think it’s time for a larger conversation.”
The movie at the center of the controversy, “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” had a description that says the film “uncovers the true identity of the Children of Israel by proving the true ethnicity of Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, the Sons of Ham, Shem and Japheth. Find out what Islam, Judaism and Christianity has covered up for centuries in regards to the true biblical identity of the so-called ‘Negro’ in this movie packed with tons of research.”
Fox News’ Scott Thompson contributed to this report.
